TLCW (True love Crossing Worlds)
by Azeri-Doni
Summary: Harry Potter has lived nine lives, each time failing to complete his true destiny. Betrayed, enslaved, and manipulated by all, he knows something has to give if he's to succeed. Armed with memories, knowledge, and allies, and his soulmate, Mal, the newly named Ares is set to go back. With two Dark Lords to face, the universe resting on their shoulders, they hope it will be enough.
1. Chapter 1: The Boy Who Lived No Longer

_Disclaimer; I do not own Harry Potter in any way shape or form, I'm just playing with the ready-made works of J._ _K. Rowling. P_ _lease support the official release._

 _This is the only Disclaimer I will write, so please make note of it._

Authors note: Hi! New author to fanfiction, so please be gentle.

I've been uploading the chapter through the document that it's written in on my computer, and I'm still learning how to tweak things, so please be patient with me.

 **Warnings about this story** :

1) It does have Dumbledore, Ron, Ginny, Molly Weasley, and Hermione Granger bashing. You will soon figure why, and if you don't like it, tough! It's my fanfiction, so please move on if this is not for you, I will not be insulted.

2) The story will contain adult themes and tones, as well as sexual situations, and graphic violence, I'll endeavor to keep descriptions down where I can. However, some will be unavoidable.

3) Harry Potter (or I as will eventually change his name to – Ares Pendragon) will end up with an OC character. I can see him with Hermione, Daphne, even the Delacour sisters, but not Ginny. I never liked Ginny or Molly. Molly, I see as a Harpie given human form. Ginny, I see as a lovesick puppy with an unhealthy obsession with the boy who lived.

4) It will also feature a genderbent Daphne Greengrass – to Davis Greengrass. For the purpose of this story, Daphne needs to be Davis, you will eventually learn why.

5) This story will happen slowly at first, but the pace should pick up eventually, with a lot of things happenings quickly.

Pairings:

Ares-X-Mal (OC), Neville-X-Susan, Luna-X-Draco, and Tracey-X-Davis

I hope to post a chapter a month at the very least, and more once I have more written. I'm currently outlining and up past chapter 17, so if things work out well, there will be at least a chapter a month, maybe two a month.

Thanks for your time, and enjoy the story!

 **}TLCW{**

 ** _Daily Prophet Extra Edition October 31st, 2071_**

 _We at the Daily Prophet have done our due diligence with bringing the public updates on current events as they unfolded. Today, we reached the conclusion of the case that has shocked and shattered this country to its core. Today, not only was former Minister of Magic Hermione Jean Potter (nee Granger) quietly executed via the Veil of Death in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry, but this reporter had a front row seat to the trial proceeding where we learned just how many crimes our former Minister committed, and they are indeed plentiful. In today's Extra Edition of the Daily Prophet, this reporter plans to explain in detail the dark secrets revealed by the Minister we were once so proud of._

 _ **Fair Warning** : If you have little ones present, DO NOT let them around while reading this edition, for the content is not only gruesome but so tainted with evil it may infect our children's innocent minds. Also, in fairness to those who are not up to date, or ignorant to certain aspects of our history, this article will take the time to explain things. Hence it's immense length. If you are caught up or do not need the extra explaining, do feel free to skip ahead._

 _At exactly 10 am yesterday morning, the Wizengamot, the Wizard and Magical Creatures Council (created by the Former Minister Potter), convened in what was quite possibly the largest court assembly seen to date, and there were still bodies standing both in and out of the room and down the hall._

 _Before I get to the events that followed, I feel I must add that Mr. Potter, our dear Savior, and hero, was not in attendance, but rather his former ward, Teddy Lupin, seventy-three years of age, and the first international Auror, attended in his stead._

 _Given what we learned today, this reporter is grateful for this fact._

 _The room was abuzz as the Wizengamot and the Council members filed in and took their seats. The chatter lasted for several minutes, but when the Aurors began to enter the room signifying the prisoner's approach, the room fell quiet. The sound of chains echoed throughout the hall as they clinked against the marble._

 _T_ _his reporter can honestly say that the sight of the former Minister in chains, wearing the rags common for prisoners, robbed of all her dignity, really hit home the reality of the situation._

 _Mrs. Potter fought against the Auror's bringing her into the chamber with every step. Her legendary bushy hair was matted and crazier than ever. Her once flawless complexion now dirtied. Her screams of outrage and demands to be released so she could return to her husband's side burned the ears of all who were present._

 _Due to the accusations made against her and the severity of it all, all who were present held no compassion for the woman, and her pleas fell on deaf ears._

 _If there was ever a person to compare Mrs. Potter's state to, it would be that of the Legendary Black Mistress: Bellatrix Lestrange. Killed at the Battle of Hogwarts on May 2nd, 1998, by one Molly Weasley (nee Prewett) in defense of her children. Whose mannerisms and style can be seen in any History book or the memories of the survivors of the Battle of Hogwarts._

 _Mrs. Potter was forced into a chair, as her chains were secured to the floor. She attempted to break free of them several times, all of them as ineffective as the last._

 _One should remember such shackles were perfected after the last Wizarding War when those who supported the late Dark Lord Voldemort still came out of the shadows to finish what he started. Especially as our world began implementing the changes designed by our hero, Harry Potter, and his band of allies, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and the future Mrs. Potter, that furthered our society._

 _T_ _he actual inventor has never been named, even to this day._

 _The shackles block the magic of the persons they are enclosed upon. In the past, they would burn when a person attempted to use magic. If enough power was poured into them, they could break, leaving the prisoner greatly injured, but able to use magic. It only occurred a handful of times. In the case of one Lucius Malfoy after the end of the Dark Lord Voldemort. The shackles of the present, absorb the magic of the person they imprison and uses it to keep them bound. No burning involved and the prisoner can never escape them._

 _Chief Warlock, Marcus Greengrass, grandson of the late Daphne Longbottom (nee Greengrass), who was named Lord Greengrass by Daphne's late father Mathias Greengrass, called the trial to order._

 _T_ _he current Minister, Hecate Malfoy, the youngest daughter of Draco Malfoy and Astoria Malfoy (nee Greengrass) took the platform as the presiding judge._

 _Everyone was shocked when Mrs. Potter began to shout profanities at the woman. All of them for the alleged crimes her father committed in the last war._

 _This reporter feels the need to remind the public that only a handful of crimes were proven to be true, as he confessed to them under the effects of Veritaserum. While he was not imprisoned, he gave a significant portion from what was left of the Malfoy wealth to the Ministry. A small portion to pay the fines he owed, and donating the rest to the rebuilding efforts, much of it going to the families who had been robbed of their homes._

 _Minister Malfoy, ignoring the prisoner, began to read the list of charges against Mrs. Potter. As the Wizengamot and Council agreed to the list after it was read, and with nothing further to add, allowed the trial to commence._

 _This reporter took care to notice that everyone who spoke before the Veritaserum was administered, avoided using the titles: Brightest witch of her age, former Minister of Magic, Hermione Potter, wife of Harry Potter, and all the other titles she had accumulated over her life. Mrs. Potter's situation and life were summed into one word: Prisoner._

 _The crimes, as all of you know, have been stated in the Prophet as they came to the light over the past several weeks. Still, for those rare few who were ignorant to them, they are as listed:_

 _Dosing one Harry James Potter with love and loyalty potions for seventy-three years._

 _Committing line theft of one Harry James Potter._

 _The extinction of the race of House Elves._

 _As all of you would remember the last one came about last year, and it was the reason the Resistance became more violent in their attempts to get Mrs. Potter removed from office. Many joined before the extinction and even more joined after the fact. Their last attack landed Mrs. Potter in St. Mungo's two months ago, where the situation was brought to light._

 _Due to her other crimes, the Council of Wizards and Magical Creatures thought it best that this crime receives its due punishment._

 _Though Chief Warlock Greengrass has gone on record saying this crime would have been punished regardless as they'd convened to give Mrs. Potter a vote of no confidence as our Minister. Removed from office, she would have been imprisoned in the future. The severity of her other crimes as they came to light hastened the situation and trial forward faster._

 _For clarification of the extinction of the house elves, for those rare few who are ignorant, in her young years at Hogwarts, Mrs. Potter founded S.P.E.W. (Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare). After her revolutionary campaign on the education system at Hogwarts, and all other magical schools which resulted in all but four magical schools with high reputations (Hogwarts, Ilvermorning, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons) being shut down, Mrs. Potter took up C.R.A.M.S. (The Campaign for Rights for All Magical Species). The efforts of this saw the creatures such as Goblins, Centaurs, Merpeople, Giants, and the like, all receive rights within the Magical World, and a place on the Council of Wizards, updating the name to the one we currently recognize._

 _On a side note, The Council of Wizards was established at the beginning of her term as Minister. The variety of Witches and Wizards between Pureblood and Muggleborns, as well as Squibs themselves, being allowed to sit on this Council if they received enough nominations. Much of the Potter's former classmates found themselves seats on that very council. Its establishment created so the Wizarding Worlds would see it's concerns and ideas heard and considered by all, from every facet of our magical world. Not have them immediately thrown out by the Pureblood's outdated notions; as Mrs. Potter had put it at the time._

 _The result of C.R.A.M.S. saw a revolution, a rebellion by those who wanted things to stay as they were, but most importantly, it also saw the extinction of the entire race of House Elves. As the public would remember, Mrs. Potter did not listen to the warnings from, literally, everyone, and the race went extinct when every witch and wizard could no longer be bonded with one. Mrs. Potter had made it illegal, calling it slavery. Her attempts to fine, if not imprison, several dozens of the Wizarding community she was sworn to protect led to the attack on her life. Resulting in her stay at St. Mungo's where, due to suspicious wording of needing to fix her husbands morning tea and nightcap whiskey chaser, and the crazed persistence that went with it as her request was denied, saw an investigation being launched into the situation at the Potter home._

 _With the crimes read out, the head of the DMLE August Bones, son of Susan Bones who was the head of the DMLE before him and Justin Bones (nee Flinch-Fletchley, who the public would remember caused a scandal many years ago when he was the first male ever in the recorded History of the magical world to take his wife's name), stepped forward to administer the Veritaserum himself. Rather than allow one of the Auror's under his command to do it. Whether this was an act of respect or a show of just how serious of a threat Mrs. Potter was, is unknown to this reporter, and I did not think to ask._

 _Mrs. Potter thrashed, even spat at Director Bones when she failed to bite him. Her behavior before was shocking enough, but the way she fought to not get the dose of Veritaserum was suspicious. All in the room were curious and eager to know what secrets she was hiding._

 _Let this reporter be clear on one thing; we were not prepared._

 _After the administration, the effect could clearly be seen, as Mrs. Potter's breathing began to even out and her body relaxed. Perhaps a little too much, as a pool of wet began to form between her legs. Puddling on the floor beneath the chair._

 _It was at this point; Director Bones began his questioning. "Are you Hermione Potter, nee Granger?"_

 _"I am."_

 _"Did you dose your husband Harry Potter with love and loyalty potions?"_

 _"Yes."_

 _"For how long, and why?"_

 _It was at this point; the trial went south. Mrs. Potter confirmed to potioning him for seventy-three years. Before it was mere conjecture as to the length, in that moment, it was confirmed._

 _Bear in mind that Mrs. Potter turned ninety-one this year, and Mr. Potter is currently ninety._

 _As for the why; it was because she was in love with him, obsessed with him, ever since their first year in Hogwarts. Where he saved her from a Troll attack on the 31st of October, which we all know is All Hollows Eve. As the years went on, and he failed to notice her, she grew desperate. As young girls are wont to do, she tried to make him jealous by dating other men. Her conquests include the former quidditch star, Viktor Krum. When that failed, she tried again later with Mr. Potter's former best friend, Ronald Weasley._

 _It was the contempt in her voice that sparked Director Bones to ask, "What problem did you have with the Weasley family?"_

 _Why he said the Weasley family, and not simply Ronald Weasley, this reporter does not know, but it proved to be the right question to ask._

 _I am ashamed to say this reporter stopped taking notes then, I was too shocked by the events I later had to go back with a_ _Pensieve to review the memories to write this article. I was assured by the other reporters who were present, that I was not the only one to have fallen into this state. Some lost track before me, a few after. All of us quietly agreed to wait until today to print our articles, so we could review our memories and get the story right. Which proved to be the right choice because there are details I certainly would have missed otherwise._

 _Mrs. Potter, former Minister of Magic, wife to our beloved Hero Harry Potter, admitted to being the catalyst that saw the entire Weasley family dead. Minus the two Weasley sons who perished in the Battle of Hogwarts, Fredrick (Fred) Fabian Weasley, and Percy Ignatius Weasley._

 _Molly and Ginevra Weasley were found guilty of potioning Harry Potter with love and loyalty potions his sixth year at Hogwarts when they admitted their crimes after being caught in the act of attempting to do so again in December of 1999. During the Potter's final year at Hogwarts. They were sentenced to fifteen years in Azkaban. The court records show them saying they would get out, and they would show the world that Mrs. Potter was doing the exact same as they were._

 _Turns out, they were right; though their words at the time were pure conjecture, not proof._

 _Ronald Weasley's death was considered an accident from the day it occurred to the present. However, Mrs. Potter admitted while attending their final term, Ronald met his untimely demise by her design. He followed them back to school in an effort to get Mrs. Potter away from Mr. Potter. As he had confessed himself at his mother and sister's trial, he wanted her for himself but had been unaware of their potioning. Despite his admitting he would have helped, at the time, he was released due to the lack of evidence that he was involved in any way. It was shortly after the imprisonment of the female Weasley's he attacked the Potter's at school, causing Mr. Potter to retaliate to protect them, resulting in a statue falling on Ronald's head._

 _Mrs. Potter admitted to casting the Imperious curse on the boy ordering him to attack them and cursing the statue to fall on him after Mr. Potter had knocked the boy down to his back._

 _Mrs. Potter went on to admit that in the early summer of 2000, she broke into Azkaban, and killed the two female Weasleys. Because they tried to take her Harry away. In 2001, she killed George Gideon Weasley, the surviving Weasley twin who managed the joke shop Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Because he began to notice Mr. Potter's odd behavior, comparing it when the late Ginevra and Molly Weasley potioned him. She never knew how he figured it out, just knew he had to die before he spoiled everything. Shortly after that, she hunted down Charlie Weasley, a dragon tamer in Romania to kill him. Her reasoning was his dragon nearly killed herHarry._

 _Later, she admitted to killing Bill (William Arthur Weasley) and Fleur Isabelle Weasley, who suggested they take custody of the Potter's ward at the time, Teddy Lupin._

 _Director Bones asked why she felt the need to kill them, anyone would have given the Potter's custody without a thought, why kill them?_

 _Mrs. Potter said she couldn't take the chance of Teddy being lost to them, and Harry was already asking her for children. He'd always wanted a family, and she needed to buy more time._

 _Director Bones asked why? Why did she need to buy more time? They had children, she gave him three sons._

 _The room looked shocked as Mrs. Potter shook her head. She'd been taking fertility potions since the defeat of Voldemort. She knew that Mr. Potter had a lot of wealth, and he would stay home with their children while she focused on her career. However, by the summer of their final year, she ascertained proof that Mr. Potter had in fact been made sterile by her love and loyalty potions. Siting that she had perfected the recipe to make it stronger and dosed him with it, however, there was an unforeseen side effect. While she managed to correct her mistake in the future, but the damage was done._

 _Director Bones asked her how she got her proof._

 _Along with the various charms and spells to reveal the nature of such things, Mrs. Potter confessed to bringing another woman into their bedroom, who a charm showed would get pregnant if she copulated that night. She didn't get pregnant by Mr. Potter, though she should have._

 _She then obliviated them both. One, because she didn't want the girl coming back for more, and two, because Mr. Potter was a little more "excited" by this new girl then he had ever been with Mrs. Potter. She obliviated the girl, rather than killing her, knowing the girl was fixing to leave the country, and they'd never see her again._

 _Wanting yet more proof that it was Mr. Potter's infertility, Mrs. Potter then went and had an affair with Viktor Krum, who impregnated her during their first tryst. She terminated the pregnancy immediately. Obliviating Krum of the encounter later when he tried to get her to leave Potter._

 _Another charge was added to her ever-growing list of crimes as Viktor was hospitalized due to having his entire life wiped from his memory. See the story of Gilderoy Lockhart for a better comparison._

 _Arthur Weasley, she did not kill. He was completely broken and good for nothing else other than being told what to do by another. She confessed to using the man to get herself pregnant. Through the use of blood adoption rituals, which she had to use the Imperius curse on our hero Harry Potter to make him do it, they became Mr. Potter's children, she obliviated him after each ritual._

 _So as far as the world knew, James Sirius Potter, Gregory Regulus Potter, and Viktor Arthur Potter were all biologically Mr. Potters. When in fact, they were born with Weasley blood._

 _On a side note, because of the effects of the love and loyalty potions and the Imperius curse, the children were not truly adopted by Mr. Potter's will, but rather by Mrs. Potter's orders, thus the children were not fully bonded to the Potter line. They still took on slight Weasley appearances, such as their hair being a darker red than the well known fiery red hair the Weasley's are famous for. Mrs. Potter played it off as her muggle parents being redheads. She confessed to Director Bones, they were actually brunette's, like herself._

 _It was concluded, because of this action, the "Potter Trio", the quirky nickname the Potter's son earned in their Hogwarts days, have more claim to the Weasley name than Potter._

 _It was a broken Arthur who took his life shortly after Mrs. Potter was pregnant with her third son. She confessed it was fortuitous timing, as he had worn out his welcome, and she didn't need the truth getting back to her Harry. They had Teddy, they had their boys, Mr. Potter was now the dutiful stay at home husband/dad she knew he would be, and she began to work on her political career and platform._

 _"Are there any other Weasley murders you're responsible for?" Director Bones asked as the story began to wind down towards its conclusion._

 _"Victoria Weasley. I once tried to gain custody of the girl, both so Harry would have another child, and for experimenting. I'd had so many questions about Veela, and the little bitch would provide me with answers. Unfortunately, her French grandparents won that battle and took her back to France for a time. All due to some sexed up and well paid off purebloods and Veela abominations. She should have stayed here among decent society and not raised to be a harlot, however, she returned to the country of her birth some year back." Mrs. Potter spat. "Teddy had fallen under the Veela bitches spell, there were many reasons why I left the Veela out C.R.A.M.S. One of the main reasons is because they enslave men. She was taking Teddy away from us, I couldn't let that happen. I had to protect him from becoming a sex slave to a creature of debauchery. She was also the last of the Weasley's, and I so **hated** them."_

 _"Your sons are Weasley as well." Director Bones pointed out._

 _"NO!" Mrs. Potter screeched. "They are Harry's sons through and through. Where they came from, how they came to be, does **not** matter! They are Harry's sons! My sons with Harry! I gave him children! I gave him the family he always wanted! ME! Not that Weasley Bitch!"_

 _It was after those words, that Minister Malfoy sentenced Mrs. Potter to death through the Veil. This reporter opted out of attending the event. Having seen and heard more than I will ever be comfortable with. Such horror and manipulations have not been seen since the Wizarding War._

 _This reporter deliberately left out the explicit details of each murder and sexual exploits. Though I'm sure another will bring those details to the public for those who wish for them._

 _Instead, this reporter went looking into some unanswered questions._

 _Teddy Lupin practically fled the country fifty years ago, returning off and on since then, and this report caught up to the man after the trial to ask if it was because of Victoria's death, and did he know what his foster mother had done?_

 _He had this to say:_

 _"I suspected, but I had no proof. Her contempt of Veela was palpable even back then, I think it was because while Harry could withstand the allure, he was always close with Gabrielle after Fleur past. They would write letters, and that's how I got in contact with Victoria. I left after her death because I didn't want to cause a rift between Hermione and the man who is essentially my father in all but blood, especially if I was wrong. Contrary to popular belief, while Victoria had the Veela beauty, she did not have the Veela allure. She truly was, half witch, half Veela, which is rare, but not unheard of, and I loved her with all that I am. It wasn't common knowledge, as I worked hard to keep it quiet within the Ministry, but we were soul bonded. It was just in the beginning phases, we hadn't consummated it yet, which is the only reason that I am alive while she is not."_

 _With one question answered, there was only one left this reporter felt she had to know, and one I am sure the rest of the Wizarding World is thinking. Where are the Potter's sons? Why aren't they here?_

 _Teddy Lupin's features darkened with rage this reporter can thankfully say she has never seen the likes of before and hopes to never see the likes of again, as he answered._

 _"I've confirmed this with the Goblins; Hermione's sons cleaned out the Potter vaults while Harry was in St. Mungo's detoxing from the potions and recovering. They sold the estates and collected the gold. As none of us were aware they were not his children until today, and they claimed they were doing it so Harry could get a fresh start somewhere else, we had no reason to question it. Stands to reason they knew the truth, as I've just confirmed with one of my contacts they've fled the country. Seems they couldn't face the consequences of their actions or bear the humiliation of their mother. I'm leaving here with the intent of finding them and dragging their arses back here to stand trial like their mother. Even if all I can get on them is theft of property. Since Harry didn't adopt them by his own choice, he will likely cast them out of the family for what their mother did, especially if they helped her. Which I'm sure is why they fled."_

 _In light of recent events, and what this reporter has learned, I wish Teddy Lupin all the luck in the world, and if I can, offer whatever aid I can to this cause._

 _Since the discovery of Mrs. Potter's crimes, Mr. Potter has been in hiding. By whose efforts, none can say, but Mr. Potter, if you are reading this, you have my greatest sympathies._

 _Regina Skeeter-Lovegood reporter for the Daily Prophet._

 **}TLCW{**

The article lay on the floor collecting dust as it stared up at him from where he had dropped it. The place it had been since the day of Hermione's execution a month ago. Many of the articles regarding her case lay scattered on the floor, or on the various flat surfaces of the one bedroom flat above the Leaky Cauldron. His room and board paid for by Teddy and the Goblins. He wasn't sure what he did to warrant such loyalty from them, especially given the break-in during his hunt for the Horcruxes, but it was unwavering. Teddy's loyalty he understood. Even without the potions, his love for the man he raised as his own son was strong. Perhaps that's why his sons never liked Teddy, they knew what he didn't; They weren't really his sons, and his love for them was forced, whereas, with Teddy, it wasn't.

The Wizarding World had no idea how right they were when they named Hermione the Dark Lady they were unaware of. Since her execution, Teddy and Minister Hecate launched a deep investigation, they ransacked the Minister's office, as well as the former houses that Harry owned apparently. He'd been unaware of them until that point.

In her secret studies, they found her numerous journals, her many experiments, which included gruesome dissections of various creatures, and her murders in detail. More than what she confessed to. There was a lot more than the Weasley blood on her hands. Rita Skeeter's and Luna Lovegood's shared granddaughter was the reporter on top of every story. She even helped decode a lot of Hermione's work, so they could better understand what it was Hermione was doing.

The conclusion they learned, was Hermione was bigotted, but the opposite of what the Wizarding World was used to. She was bigotted against Wizards and Witches. She thought them all barbaric and backward. She was also apparently in the process of exposing them. She'd been in contact with a few world leaders.

Harry didn't know more than that. He didn't want to know more.

What Harry hadn't learned from Teddy directly, he read about in Regina's articles. He had to give the woman credit, she was as ruthless as Skeeter when pursuing a story, but she had the kindness and deep understanding of Luna. It broke his heart to realize the accident that killed Luna after her sons were born, was Hermione's doing. Because Luna's studies and efforts were reversing Hermione's own. He hoped Regina got some closure from that, as did Luna's sons.

A knock on the door had Harry looking in its direction. Teddy slipped in with a tray of food and quickly closed the door behind him. Teddy turned to him with a grin. "You should really lock that door."

"What's the point? No one comes to visit 'cept you. I'm in hiding, remember?"

Teddy grinned, "That may change."

Harry looked at him confused, "What do you mean?"

"I found them!" Teddy declared in an excited manner Harry hadn't seen on him in years. "They were in Australia just like I thought they would be, they were hiding out in some safe house Hermione set up. We finally managed to crack the antitracking wards, without alerting them. Shows they inherited the Weasley intelligence as well. At least from what I heard."

Harry nodded. "Yes, the twins, Bill, and Charlie were all pretty exceptional, Percy as well I suppose in his own way, but Arthur, Ron, and Ginny were all, pretty dimwitted."

Teddy shook her head, "You're too modest dad."

Harry smiled a bit. He never asked for Teddy to call him dad, but as the years went on, and their relationship grew, Teddy did call him dad, or father. But only at times when he knew Harry needed to hear it the most.

"Anyway," Teddy clapped his hands after handing Harry the tray, "I've got a team ready for dispatch, and we're bringing them back. Hecate assured me a trial for them is already set up, we just need them. I'd give it a week, maybe two, and you'll have everything back." He laid a hand on Harry's shoulder and squeezed. "I'll get you through this dad. I swear it."

Harry nodded and looked down at the stew and mug of Guinness on the tray. "Thank you, son."

He didn't have to look to know Teddy's lip quivered a bit before he gripped Harry as tight as he dared then left the room. Being emotional was never something either of them could handle. In fact, Harry wasn't sure if he'd even cried. He'd been sick to his stomach, he'd felt a deep-seated rage, but he'd never cried. Should he cry?

He got up, forgetting about the stew, and went to the table where there was a clean scroll with fresh writing on it. His last will and testament, and all it needed it was his signature. With a quick scrawl, it was done and he handed it to the owl that was sitting outside the window waiting. It flew towards Gringotts, and he knew the Goblins would honor his last wishes. It all went to Teddy. He hoped Teddy found the selfish brats Hermione spawned, and he hoped they got their just do's. As he laid down on the bed again, he knew he wasn't going to be around to see it.

He was old yes, but not nearly as old as some who had come before him in the Wizarding World. Some had lived to a ripe old age of two hundred before dying. Some, like the Flamel's, were well into their seven hundred's. Yes, in the eyes of the wizarding world, he was still quite young and had a lot to accomplish.

He did not share those views. He felt like he was a thousand years old, and people were still pushing him forward with needles in his back. This life, full of betrayal, and those who truly loved him being lost to death. He hoped Teddy could get out from under it. He knew Teddy and Hecate had a complicated relationship, and he hoped they found some happiness in the chaos left.

Harry was tired. Tired of fighting, tired of being manipulated, tired of living. He'd been fighting since he was a small child. He fought to survive at the Dursleys, he fought to survive at Hogwarts, he fought against Voldemort, had he known about Dumbledore's manipulations sooner, he would have fought against those as well. Despite what he said, he'd been fighting against the love potions since they started. He always had a feeling something wasn't right when he was with Hermione, but no matter how much he thought about it, he never broke beyond that thought.

No, he was done. The world could save itself, or die, he didn't care anymore. His eyes drifted shut as he relaxed his body for the first time since his detox, and he drifted off to a deep sleep. Knowing deep down, he would never wake to this life again.

 **}TLCW{**

 **AN:** Updated on 4/14/19

I was fixing to work on the edits for chapter 8, so I went back read through what I posted online already to make sure it all flowed properly, only to find that some things were a little wrong. Not a lot, but enough. So I went through and corrected them.  
You might see this notice a few times at the end of chapters: Updated on such and such date. I hope there won't be too many of these.  
I don't plan on rewriting whole chapters. Just making quick edits of chapters I've already posted, mistakes I've missed. I'll try to get this all done before posting in the future, but you never know. My eyes can only catch so much.


	2. Chapter 2: Life and Death

"About fucking time." A voice growled from the bright white beyond Harry's closed eyes.

Hearing the voice, memories from his previous lives filled Harry's mind. "Rather unbecoming of an Arch Angel to curse don't you think?"

Harry opened his eyes and grinned at the man who was sitting at a desk across the room, hands folded rested against his mouth as his elbows rested on the top of the desk. It was a look Harry knew well. It seemed to be the look that perpetually greeted him whenever he arrived here. Which in of itself, should say how bad things were in his mortal life that this was the reaction he always got from an Arch Angel.

His guardian angel, Gabriel, was one of the three original Arch Angels.

More had been appointed the title since, but that was a different matter.

Despite the title and status, Gabriel was still as male as any mortal Harry'd ever met. And it often showed in the angel's sense of humor.

Gabriel was tall, at least seven feet, with honey brown hair, artistically styled, at least that's what Gabriel claimed, with a pair of large white wings attached to his back. Harry knew they were as tall as Gabriel was, from his head to his toes, and when unfolded, were twice the length of his body. Harry had never seen them expanded, though he admitted to wanting to.

Most angel wings were kept folded in, only the smaller ones were ever expanded.

"You, Mr. Potter, would make God curse." Gabriel sighed. "Satan's been cursing for years, and were he here, we'd hear some very colorful cursing after that last fiasco."

"So, Satan's already followed through on his threat and drank himself to death because of me, then?" Harry shot back as he got up from the bed to sit in a chair placed on the other side of the desk. Knowing the bed behind him disappeared as soon as he was off of it.

"No," Gabriel sighed followed by a chuckle, "Though when it was clear what was going to happen in this life, he and I did get pretty wasted. Though that, orc angel, he promoted a bit ago nearly drank us both under the table. I'm so glad we don't have a Dwarf angel among our ranks. None of us would ever be sober."

"Be funny as hell to watch though." Harry chuckled.

Gabriel shook his head as if to clear it before regarding Harry again. "Something good did come from it though, Satan has relinquished his prior "request" to your soul. You're free and clear of the underworld. For the time being at least."

Harry chuckled. "Not sure how I should feel about that. Even with knowing the real reason why Satan wants my soul." He sat back and scratched his chin. "You've argued, on the one hand, all of my deaths, and the circumstances of my life were not my fault. Therefore, I can't be held accountable. Which you know I think is a load of crocking shite, I did the crime I should pay the time. Perhaps Satan gave up on me when he realized I'm so weak I can't fight against some stupid potions and a manipulative old man with a God complex."

"Well, not to stroke your easily inflated ego, but there wasn't anything you could have done. You couldn't fight against the manipulations because you didn't know you were being manipulated and stood no chance against the potions, which kept you ignorant and pliable to the manipulations." Gabriel said sitting back himself. "Dumbledore had more knowledge than you, Molly had a little and she was the Potions Queen, Ginny and Hermione were obsessed, little girls." Gabriel sighed. "You were physically weakened by Dumbledore with the abuse at the Dursley's, magically by the blocks on your core; therefore, you had no chance to fight. As for this last fiasco, Hermione was the brightest witch of her age, and what she managed to do with those potions was beyond revolutionary."

Harry glared at him. "Don't praise that woman in front of me again."

Gabriel raised his hands in surrender. "It wasn't my intention merely stating a fact. We had no idea she was capable of such a feat, her angel certainly didn't or she would have warned me. I checked with her guardian before your arrival, Hermione didn't have her memories by some mistake, what happened was all her own mortal minds doing. However, that means even with her mind wiped, she'll likely try again in her next life with you."

"Not if I kill her first," Harry grumbled. "If it's one thing I've realized, my contempt and hate for certain people carry on into the next life. I'll know she's as much of an enemy as Ron and Ginny now. She won't get that chance again, I won't let her become what she did in this last life. I'll kill the Dark Lady Hermione before she gets to that point."

Gabriel gave a shrug as if to say, as you wish. The two men gave a combined sigh of utter exhaustion before resting back and closing their eyes.

"So, what happens this time?" Harry asked, his head still tilted back, his eyes still closed. "Have I finally died enough times to go back with my memories intact yet?"

Gabriel was silent for a long time, and Harry looked at him annoyed. "That's still a no?"

"It's not the way we work." Gabriel sat forward, "Harry, you have to understand . . ."

But that was as far as the angel got.

"Screw you and your deeper understanding!" Harry leaped to his feet and began pacing furiously as he shouted with all of his might. "I've died a grand total of nine times already! Nine fucking times! Alright!? Two of those times happened before I was even eleven and went to Hogwarts.

"One time was because of the pack of bloody Dementors when I was thirteen and trying to save Sirius, I died of magical exhaustion because of the bloody blocks on my core that you white-winged fucks refuse to remove for me! Apparently, only a mortal soul can! Twice I died because of that fucking Tournament! The first time due to that bloody dragon, that I will make sure I kill from now on. The second time was drowning because I refused to let a little girl be brutally tortured to death!

"And need I remind you that one lifetime I committed suicide because my Aunt raped me. Let me repeat that so I can get through your cloud infested ears! I. Killed. Myself. Because. My. Aunt. Fucking. RAPED. ME! Which is how Satan got involved with my soul in the first place! I committed the most terrible sin that exists! But, because I have some grand fucking destiny that I must accomplish for you fuckers, or the cosmos will go into complete unrepairable chaos, you kept me from going to the Underworld!

"Not to mention when you rewound time for me to start again in that life after the rape, my uncle killed me! I don't know how he found out, and you've never said, but he did find out and he killed me for it! That was the first time you rewound the world completely for me to start over.

"Which leads me to my current situation. The last two lifetimes I was potioned into a bloody mindless zombie by an obsessed witch who thought I was her fucking property! Some might think it a kindness after all I've been through, but let me tell you something Gabriel, it wasn't! You try being forced to be beside a woman and knowing you don't love her, knowing you're growing to hate her, and being unable to do anything about it! Every order she gives you, you obey like an obedient dog!"

Harry finally stopped and finally faced the angel in front of him. His fury combining with his magic and began coming off of him in waves so fast Gabriel's hair was being blown back.

"I have been through enough Hell in the lives I've lived to earn this damn it! I've killed, I've been killed; I've been weakened and manipulated by some gay bastard who wanted me to bugger him, then be buggered by him had he lived! I saw that flinch! Didn't think I knew about that did you, well I do! The treatment I received at the Dursley's is by far the worst any in the Wizarding World I'd endured. I've been potioned into loving two women I am repulsed sexually by, and all for what!? Forced to have children who later in life hated me and just wanted my fortune! Both times I might add! My son Albus being the only exception. All of that for you to tell me it's too fucking complicated for me to go back with my knowledge intact!? Fuck you!"

Gabriel stared at the wizard before him. His raven black hair billowing as if caught in the whirlwind that was his rage. Harry's temper was not unknown here, many had felt it as he threw the biggest tantrums after some of his deaths. None blamed him. Now, he glared back at Gabriel, his emerald green eyes glowing like the killing curse his world was famous for.

"Face it, Gabriel, it's the only way to accomplish my task, and we're deluding ourselves if we think otherwise. If insanity is doing the same thing over and over again with the same result, then we've been insane this whole time. Either give me my memories when I go back or send me to Hell! Anything would be better than living through that shit for the tenth time!"

Though it might be disgraceful of an angel to show fear of his charge, Gabriel visibly gulped. "Yes, well, I'll need to talk to the higher-ups. Michael for sure, and probably God. It will take some time Harry. Even if we get fast approval, there's the paperwork and the specifics to work out. Can you stay calm and wait at least semi-patiently for me to return?"

Harry sat down, arms crossed over his chest. "Haven't I always? Even if I didn't get the answers I wanted."

Gabriel gave a curt nod before doing another disgraceful thing and literally ran from the room at full speed. Praying to the big man upstairs his office was still in one piece when he got back.

To Harry, Gabriel was simply there, then gone, the door to the office banging open as he left in a hurry. Harry sat drumming his fingers against the armrest of the chair for a few minutes before standing again, he walked to the window with the most beautiful view in all of existence. In a few of his other stays here, he would sit and stare out the window, at a loss for words and all concept of time. Finding no solace in it this time, he crossed the office to the bookshelves.

He went to reach for a volume but dropped his hand. What was the point, he'd read the entirety of the angel's manual and afterlife guide twice over. Something not even all of the angels did. Harry was rather confident he knew more about the afterlife, it's history, and how it worked, than angels who had been working here for centuries. In any case, there was nothing new there to discover.

So, what to do? He turned and looked at the office door. It was still open? It usually disappeared after Gabriel left the room, even if he had left the door open. So why was it open now? With a shrug, he walked to it and took a step out of the office. Gabriel would find him when he had answers. The fact that Harry wasn't kidding made all the more impact. He didn't know what was going to happen, but he did know something was going to change.

He made his way forward taking in his surroundings. It wasn't the first time he'd seen the structure that was fashioned off a muggles business office. Matter of fact, he'd seen a great deal of it during his time here after his suicide. When Satan got involved with his fate. Demanding to get his soul after he completed his destiny. Satan later assured him it was because he wanted to recruit Harry, not condemn him. Apparently, the hell he went through in his mortal life was more than enough in Satan's eyes to warrant his redemption. Not that he admitted that openly to Michael and Gabriel.

It was something new to do, so Harry began looking around. Harry wondered if he could find Teddy's guardian and watch his life while he waited for Gabriel to come back. This section was all supposed to be his world anyway. He looked at each room, trying to find Teddy's viewing room.

Guardian angels watched their charges lives as if they were movies in a theater. The cinematic records they called them. Each room had about thirty chairs, as some angels tended to watch as well, mostly for training, or just a means to pass time. Gabriel, essentially being a manager, got his own office, where he could watch over his charges in private.

Harry walked past an open door to a viewing room, there was a loud ruckus coming from inside, he saw something out of the corner of his eye as he passed. Two doors down, he stopped, thought about what he saw at a brief glance, then backtracked to the open door.

He hadn't been wrong, there were black winged angels in the room. While it wasn't unusual to see them in a viewing room, it was unusual that they sat among a white-winged angel. Black-winged angels tended to watch over their own kind or those who sinned badly in life and needed to be punished in the underworld before they returned to mortal life again. White-winged angels watched over the souls who, sure while they did wrong, they didn't commit the damning sins that would see them in the underworld. They would simply return to mortal life till they got it right. While that wasn't entirely true, it was the simplest of explanations given to new souls.

He walked in and took in the scene, six or seven of the black winged angels sat in the recliners, mostly clustered together, all grinning and groaning in pleasure at the screen. The one white-winged angel was scowling and refusing to look at anything but the floor.

If he had to venture a guess, it was the white-winged angels viewing room, or she had it for this charge, and the others, were just along for the show. But, why? Curious, he finally looked at the viewer. Immediately he was frozen into place, wide-eyed, staring. There, that had to be the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. And he'd seen Veela.

She was on a stage at a strip club, at least he thought that's what it was. He'd never been to one in any of his lives, so he really had no basis for comparison. Whoever she was, she was wearing a black lace top that left nothing to the imagination, or maybe it was because of her large breasts that could give Susan Bones a run for her money, with a black thong that showed off her glorious ass.

Her hair was long and dark, midnight purple when the light caught it, it curled naturally and hung in thick locks, falling down to the middle of her back. Her smoky purple covered lips grinned at him as her bright ice blue eyes gazed into his own. It felt as if they were piercing into his soul, she grinned mischievously, and he was lost.

He sat down in the closest vacant recliner and just stared. She moved her body sensually, slowly, fast, bouncing swinging in beat with the song. Even singing along with the lyrics a bit. He gulped and felt parts of himself wanting to react. Had he not been a soul, he had no doubt he'd be boasting the hardest erection he'd ever experienced.

Beside him, the angel chuckled. "I know, she has quite the effect. Even on beings such as ourselves."

"Aren't you guys at least allowed physical contact?" Harry asked not looking at the angel. Knowing he was the one black winged sitting apart from the rest.

The angel chuckled. "We can, but only with that of our kind. The white wings are pure beings, or so they claim. We're considered fallen angels because we can mate. I know for a fact Gabriel and Michael have mated a time or two in the last millennia. The whole stigma about the black wings is such a crock."

"I thought your wings were black because you have mortal emotions." Harry said still watching the woman dance.

"They are, but that's not what the white wings believe, or at least the younger generations anyway. Satan promotes young and is very very vocal about it. It tempts the younger white wings, especially the females, and some developed emotions and their wings turned as a result. Two of the latest ones are knocked up now, by Satan I believe." There was silence for a few moments before the angel spoke again. "I'm Tarnok by the way."

"Harry."

"Harry, as in Harry Potter? The priority case Gabriel has?"

"One in the same."

He heard Tarnok chuckle. "So, what's the great Harry Potter doing watching a stripper. Not that I blame you."

"She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Harry found himself saying honestly. That was right, here in this place, there was no lying. Oh well, not like he could have hidden this anyway. "I take it she's your charge then? Is that why you're apart from the rest? Why is the white-winged angel even here? Are you guys just watching for the show and that's why there's so many here? I know those guys, and they aren't trainees, they're among Satan's most trusted." Harry continued more to himself, "Is this even my world? Maybe I can find her when I go back."

He heard Tarnok sigh. "Unfortunately, no, this is not your world. So, you could look for her all you want, and you wouldn't be able to find her. She's not my charge unfortunately, we're to keep an eye on this angel." He then pointed to the White-winged angel who was still scowling at the floor. "She was kicked out of her viewing room when she wouldn't let the trainees watch with her. She mentioned a contract and not subjecting their impressionable minds to such sin. Gabriel was certain you were the only contract case at this time. He asked Satan for a few free angels to watch and see what's going on. Given Michael had specific instructions for this soul, he suspected something was seriously off and pulled us off our own cases to investigate. We moved closer to Gabriel, so we could report to him if needed after her life is over."

"He's not in his office." Harry said feeling like he had to inform the orc of that fact.

"We'll find him." Tarnok assured him.

It was the dark tone under the reassurance that had Harry asking, "Will it be needed? The report I mean. Is it that serious?"

"Yes." Tarnok said in a dark tone that had Harry looking at him confused.

"I can explain it all, and while I'm at it," Tarnok looked at him and smiled. "Do you want to know more about her?"

Tarnok was an Orc, perhaps the same one that Gabriel mentioned earlier, which is probably why Gabriel allowed this man to watch this mortal woman's life with the white-wings. Gabriel obviously liked and trusted Tarnok. The angel's skin was green with dark brown tattoos and equally dark brown hair. With a pair of sharp looking tusks protruding from the bottom his mouth going upwards, as one would expect with an Orc.

Harry glanced at the white-wings, she was dressed in something akin to a nun's garb, and he couldn't get a good look at her. But he could see from the rigid posture she was not happy.

"Somehow, I don't think she'll tell me."

"Forget her, I've read the case about this woman, and I've watched this life." Tarnok said softly. "I can tell you what I know."

Harry looked at him again, "Then tell me."

Tarnok grinned viciously. Both looking between the screen and each other as he spoke.

"First of all, let me start by saying, the contract is a fake, she's not supposed to have one. Her name is Mallory. At least in this life. It varies from life to life, it's been; Malinda, and Malissa." Harry gave him an incredulous look and Tarnok nodded. "Yeah, I know, but her nickname stays the same, Mal. She always goes by that, more often than not, once she reaches a certain age, she absolutely refuses to acknowledge her real name.

"Anyway, from what I gather, each of her lives has been filled with abuse from her overly religious family. Much like you, she's been living the same life over and over, and much like you, she's on her ninth pass right now. Which was not supposed to happen, any of this. We were brought in to see what her Guardian Angel has been up to, and she has been putting Mal through unnecessary hardships." Tarnok spared a glare at the white-winged angel.

Harry looked between the two getting really worried. "Why?"

"We can't find the contract, and Rida's not talking, so we have no idea." Tarnok growled. "Everyone is downright pissed at Rida, in every single one of her lives, Mal's been brutally killed. She was supposed to get an easy life after her family killed her in her first one; Michael's orders according to the file. However, Rida has been putting her through the same life over and over again. Abuse and all."

"I'm extremely confused." Harry said with a shake of his head, "Why is she working as a stripper if her family is overly religious in each life? It is some kind of rebellion?"

Tarnok snorted. "I wish, the girl needs a decent rebellion, but she's too kind-hearted for that." He adjusted himself in his pants rather unashamed after glancing at the screen. When Harry checked as to why, he simply stared wide-eyed and slacked jaw for a moment, she was blissfully nude in the shower.

Tarnok cleared his throat and continued. "She's been a good girl in this life, did as the family said, so the abuse was minimal. She waited to have sex till she was married, only to be stuck with a man who's lucky to last five minutes, then blames her for his shortcomings. Even for the small nature of his equipment. As a result, the only pleasure she's ever known is the pleasure she gives herself. Anyway, in this life, she's had three miscarriages." Tarnok pointed at the angel Rida. "Because she terminated each one."

Harry's hands clenched into fists. "What!?"

"Unfortunately, we have no say over what Rida does, and Mal already signed the contract before we were assigned to watch. So whatever Rida does, we can't stop it, however much we may want to. Even if the contract was fake for us, it's binding in the mortal realm because Mal signed it. She won't be punished, she didn't know, I can only hope we can make it up to her somehow." Tarnok sighed remorsefully. "Meanwhile in her mortal life, her family is berating her for the miscarriages, as if it's her fault it happens. Doctors confirmed a couple of years ago, she'll never be able to have children. She had to have a complete hysterectomy for medical reasons. Again, Rida's doing. Once Mal explained that to her family they began to beat her for it, and she was an adult at this point, in her twenties. As everyone in that neighborhood was part of the church, no one called the cops to save her. She managed to get away without any major injuries thank heaven. That, I am responsible for."

Tarnok sighed long and deep. "I saved her from that, but when she got home to her husband, she found out he'd left her for some young thing fresh out of high school." Tarnok then growled. "The bastard left her with nothing. She had no job because he didn't want her to work. She had no money because he took it all, and the apartment had an eviction notice on it. Because of my interference, when she left her family, they did not part on good terms. Her family refused to even look at her. And that's just this life, that's not including the pain from the others. This life has been rather tame compared to the others."

Harry looked back at the screen with tears in his eyes. It was almost worse than the pain he'd endured. At least he was unaware of being manipulated, and while under the effects of the potion, he found some happiness even if part of him questioned it. She wasn't even allowed that.

"So, she became a stripper to survive."

Tarnok huffed. "Pretty much, someone she knew from high school responded to her plea about looking for work when all other avenues failed. She auditioned and got the job." Tarnok scratched his head while dropping his voice. "I will admit only to you that I was responsible for that. Anyway, within a month, she was popular. We're seeing the effects of two years worth of hard work and dedication there. Inside the club, she's respected, has friends, even the boss makes sure she's okay. But everyone outside of the club hates that. They don't like what she's become."

Harry watched as a man was sneaking out from under a car as she walked out of the club with a couple of other women. Horrified he saw her walking towards the car. "What's that, what just happened!?"

"That would have been her husband." Tarnok said remorsefully. "They never divorced because he'd have to pay her alimony, and given all of the shit she's been through, and medical expenses and his not being there and being neglectful, he'd have nothing left to himself. He just cut her break lines. Once she's dead, he plans to get everything she has because he's still legally her husband."

"Can't you do something!? You've helped her before!?" Harry said getting desperate watching her get behind the wheel.

Tarnok shook his head slowly. "I was only allowed three interferences. The first, I used when her mother tried to abandon her when she was two. The second used during the beating to spare her life. The third was to get her this job. I have no more favors left. I can't stop this, though I want to."

"NO!" Harry shouted rising to feet watching in horror and fury as her car crashed.

"Sit down lad," Tarnok said softly. "She was dead upon impact, she'll be here any second."

Sure enough, soon, there sat Mal in the chair from her car. No markings on her thankfully or he would not have been able to control his rage. Her eyes were closed, and her head was off to the side. If he had a heartbeat, it would have been pounding in his ears as he waited for her to come around. Eventually, she drew a breath and opened her eyes. He saw the knowledge and understanding cross over her face. Knowledge of her past lives and understanding of where she was.

"Well, this is new." She chuckled.

 **}TLCW{**

AN::

Updated on 4/27/19

Refamiliarizing myself with my story, fixing mistakes, and getting ready to write more chapters. ^_^


	3. Chapter 3: Red Light District

_A/N: Warning following content might be unsuitable for certain viewers. Explicit content ahead. Even if it's implied._

 _I should mention I've never been to a strip club, so this all off the top of my head, and has no bearing on the real thing. It's all made up and how things work in that world. Because I have no idea how they actually work._

 _So for the purposes of this world that Mal is in, it's how it works._

 _Thanks for returning for Chapter Three and enjoy!_

 _Also, a forewarning, chapter 4 may be a little late as I'm having surgery in the beginning of January, and healing will take a few weeks. Hopefully, posting will commence normally, and this is just a formality._

 **}TLCW{**

It was early evening when Mal pulled into the employee parking lot back behind the club. A beefy looking man was the security guard at the back door watching to make sure no one attempted to sneak out the back or sneak in. Mal shouldered her purse, locked her car up, and headed towards the door. Making sure there were no surprises around waiting for her, as it wouldn't be the first time she was accosted going into work, or coming out. And not all of those attackers were fanatical clients.

"Evening Ralph." She smiled as she approached. "I see they have you working the dead job."

"Eh, you've seen one pair of tits, you've seen them all." He shrugged, before grinning mischievously. "Though I will admit to yours being the best I've ever seen."

"Why thank you." She grinned sincerely. Knowing the gesture was in no way perverted or innovation for more. If there was one thing the women who worked at the club valued, it was Ralph's professionalism and his honesty without there being an ulterior motive.

"Besides," He popped his neck. "Sure, as hell beats working the front door. I can handle being inside the club, but working the front door is just plain annoying."

"Been a lot of the self-entitled crowd lately?" She asked with a wince.

He nodded. "That and the obviously fake id crowd. Clay, I understand, but how Max could ever think those were real is beyond me, because they were not!"

Mal shuddered remembering that night more than a week ago when a group of High School seniors managed to sneak in. They had the money, but once they got inside they had no tact. If they had acted calmly, they probably never would have been caught, but they were loud, they drank excessively, and they attacked several of the women. Some of the lap dancers, and some of the stage dancers. One of them managed to get up on the stage and ripped at her top demanding she blow him.

"I take it the men are fired then?" She asked with her arms crossed over her chest. "I swear I'm going to beat Ethan over the head if they're not."

"Bit more than that apparently." He dropped his voice a bit. "I have a cousin in county lockup, as well as a cousin who wears the badge. They both confirmed that Clay was actually the older brother of one of the boys who got in. It was planned for them to get into the club for his brother's birthday. Ethan was informed by his attorney friend, and he is suing all of the parents, as well as Clay."

Mal shook her head. "Can't say I blame him, or I wouldn't have done the same."

Ralph nodded. "It's the talk of lockup, and according to the badge cousin, the parents are trying to work out a deal to keep this out of court. Ethan's terms are simple: either the boys serve time, or the parents pay him every dime."

She couldn't help but chuckle. "I know what my answer would be, but if Ethan demanded that, that means they are going to struggle with it. On the one hand, they don't want their precious selfish spawns in jail. On the other, they would be left destitute."

"As you say." He shrugged. He looked around before unlocking and opening the door. "Best get inside miss, the shadows look full tonight, and Ethan will skin my hide if you're late to the party."

She sighed and nodded. "Yes well, gotta earn that bottom dollar I suppose." She entered the hallway but stopped him from closing the door. "I've been meaning to ask, is your name really Ralph?"

He grinned. "Nah, it's Robert, but I look that cartoon character apparently. Trina's little girl was with her one afternoon when she came to get her check, and that little thing kept screaming I was Ralph. Which led to Ethan's movie night idea, by the end of it everyone agreed I was in fact, Ralph. So, the nickname stuck. Not that I'm complaining."

She laughed and let him close the door. She walked down the hallway to where the dressing rooms were. As she stepped inside the door, she saw all of the women sitting on their benches in front of their vanities. One, in particular, caught her attention, Kimberly, sat at her vanity, facing the room, her arms wrapped around herself, red-faced, glaring at nothing, and everything.

"Um, Kimberly, why are you at my station?" Mal asked as she walked into the room.

Kimberly snorted. "As if you don't know."

"I'm genuinely in the dark here," Mal said carefully not walking in any further. "Ethan called saying I had to come in tonight, that I was specifically requested and that was it. I figured I'd get the details when I arrived."

"Ethan called a meeting, but that's not why miss blonde bitch queen is pissed off." The aforementioned Trina looked up at her. "You remember that bachelor party happening here tonight?"

Mal nodded. "It's all Kimberly, Debbie, and Bertha have been able to talk about for weeks. If what they say is to be believed, they've dropped well over ten grand into this party, and they were lime lights for it. They wouldn't let us have any peace. Every time they saw us, they'd brag. After all, they were the most requested three."

Trina leaned forward with a knowing smile. "And pray tell Mal, how many of the last major parties have requested them?"

Mal shrugged. "I have no idea, I don't keep track. I just work when I'm told."

Trina nodded. "We know, I know that; which is why your not knowing is understandable."

"Okay, quit beating around the fucking bush and tell me, alright?" Mal said firmly. "You know I hate your games, Trina."

"It would seem, that as of last night," Bertha said stepping forward, her arms crossed under her breasts. Which every woman present knew it was in attempts to make her B-cup breasts seem bigger, "Our esteemed leader Kimberly was knocked down from her place at the top and was replaced." Bertha narrowed her eyes at Mal. "By you."

Mal still looked confused. "Huh?"

"You can cut the innocent act, we all know," Debbie said grinning viciously at her, crossing her legs and leaning back.

Debbie always put in the extra effort to appear sexy and superior, it was a fact Mal was warned about early on when she began working at the club. Debbie's four-foot-eight stature and A-cup breasts left her looking like a lolicon. Mal wasn't surprised by the high demand for Debbie. Neither was she surprised that out of everyone, Debbie had the biggest ego, and it was also the easiest to crash.

"Just how is Ethan in bed, hm?" Debbie continued with a wicked giggle. "Is he a gentleman, or is he a beast?"

"I don't know." Mal said strategically, "I would ask you, but he's not into little girls."

"BITCH!" Debbie shouted jumping to her feet.

Mal met her face to face, though it was more like face to chest. She glared down at the little woman and made sure her voice was dark and threatening. "Go ahead and try it, little girl. You may be able to claw and bite, but I've taken a number of self-defense classes. At the very least, you'll walk away with a broken nose. And given you rely on the pretty little face of yours, you can't afford to have it messed up."

Debbie, to her credit, did nothing more than glare. Mal shook the hair from her face and looked around the room. "So, let me get this straight, Kimberly was finally knocked off her high horse, something we all wanted. Apparently, her popularity dropped, and mine grew. Now I'm the most demanded. Am I missing anything?"

Bertha's lips pursed, but she didn't answer, and neither did Trina. Stacey stood from her seat in the back, crossing her arms, but Mal knew that was more her way of making sure everyone knew the situation was serious.

"Yeah, quite a bit. The private dressing rooms, you know about them?"

Mal nodded, "Reserved for the top three."

Stacey nodded. "They've been cleaned out. That's why Debbie and Bertha are in here, as well as Kimberly."

"So a new three are being chosen?" Mal asked looking around, "How is that a bad thing or even life-changing? I don't understand."

"It means," everyone turned the male voice speaking from the doorway to find Ethan leaning against the frame with one arm as he looked around the room. It didn't go unnoticed that Ethan's bodyguards J and Q were behind him. "That there's going to be some significant changes around here."

He walked into the room, J and Q stopped at the doorway. Ethan pulled some envelopes from his back pocket. Mal noticed most of them were tinted a pale pink from the letter inside. He handed one to Debbie.

She took the envelope in shock, she opened it and her face went white, before turning red. "So just because I'm not the most popular anymore I'm being fired!?" She turned on Mal, "You bitch! You did this! You convinced him to fire us so you could take over!"

"I assure you, she's not warming my bed at night." Ethan said firmly before looking at Mal. "Much as I want her to."

"If she's not sleeping with you, then why all of this hype? Why are we all gathered here, and why have the dressing rooms been cleaned out?" Stacey asked calmly.

It was the questions every woman present wanted to know, and with Stacey's calm tone, no one would shout them now and cause more chaos. They didn't want to go against the woman who had been there the longest. For all of their quibbling that Mal could get them fired because of how close she was with Ethan, all it took was one word from Stacey, and they would be gone.

"Thank you for taking command like that Stacey, I will explain," Ethan said with a smile before glaring at Debbie. "Debbie, you're being fired because your usual clientele has had some interesting developments. While I may have suspected before, I had no proof and therefore could do nothing." He narrowed his eyes. "Things have changed. Of the men you usually dance for, and who requested you, several have asked you for private sessions outside of the club. I suspected you had been accepting, which as you know is against your contract. I now have proof. I'm the owner of a strip club, not a whore house.

"On top of that, at least ten of those men have been tried and convicted of being pedophiles. Of those ten, you've had liaisons with seven of them, where you were paid to act like a ten-year-old girl. I've submitted this to the DA who's working their case, and it will play a factor in their sentencing." He glared at Debbie, "Get out of my club and do not come back. You're lucky I'm not suing your ass. As it is, I'm merely reclaiming all of the things that were credited to you through the club. Meaning: your apartment, your car, and your private bank account."

"I'll be homeless!" Debbie shrieked.

"Then I suggest going home." Ethan said calmly. "You signed a contract, and you not only violated that contract, in the apartment I provided for you I might add, but you committed several illegal acts. There is a warrant out of your arrest. If I can hazard a guess, I'd say that they are outside waiting for you to either get off work or for me to kick you out. Which it's the later."

He turned, leaving a broken Debbie forgotten. Mal would have felt sorry for her, having been in a similar situation. The only difference being, Mal didn't put herself there.

Ethan stepped to Kimberly and Bertha who were within arms lengths of each other. He handed them each an envelope with a pink letter inside. "You two are also being fired. Those boys may have been of age, but you also violated your contracts and abused the privilege of your dressing rooms to have sex with them where the cameras couldn't see. But we could see them going in there, and thanks to the nifty recording devices I have placed around, we heard what happened. Same terms that apply to Debbie apply to you as well. Thankfully, you two have been here long enough that you have bank accounts not tied to the club, as well as your own apartments. You have two weeks to get the cars back to the dealership, and if they are damaged in any way, you will be sued for the damages."

He waited until the core three had left the room before he turned to Stacey, "And as for you,"

"Have to fire me too, huh?" She sniffed looking away.

"You're not being fired." He said softly, "But you are being put on paid vacation until this whole mess is cleared. I want you back Stacey, there is no proof that you were involved in the incident, and I know you weren't involved, but you are cousins with Clay, he got the job through your recommendation. Which I know he pressed you for. You had no way of knowing he'd do this, but until the courts have made a decision, I need to make you scarce, so you're not caught in the crossfire. Inside the envelope is a check. I'll give you one each week. If you go quietly and agree to this, you can come back."

Stacey took the envelope and nodded. She sat down as Ethan looked around the room.

"As you can see we have some vacancies." He looked at Mal. "Yes, you were made number one before Kimberly's stunt, and you're taking her spot was going to happen regardless. After you, in second is Stacey, but seeing as she's leaving for a time, the next in like is Caryn and Jessica." He looked at the girl. "However, Jessica, you have a habit of not playing well with others, and you were also very close with Debbie. I can't tell you who to be friends with, but I know that's going to create conflict, so you won't get the third place." He turned to the woman sitting at a vanity behind Mal. "Third place goes to Vanessa."

"This is bullshit!" Jessica screamed jumping up. "You're only giving it to Nessie because she's black! And everyone knows you're sleeping with Mal! Regardless of what you say! Debbie was right!" Jessica turned to the women. "If we don't do something Mal's going to see us all fired! We need to strike!" Jessica shrieked throwing her arm up in the air.

For a long moment, where Mal was actually sweating a bit in fear, there was just silence. When none followed Jessica's example, she slowly lowered her arm stunned. Stacey stepped forward.

"I've been here the longest, I've seen girls come and go." She said softly. "But never have I seen one who could dance like Mal." She smiled a bit at Mal. "You've earned your place, and you should be proud. I can bump and grind good, I can mix drinks that will knock your socks off, but I have no grace." She turned to look at Jessica. "You, however, have no talent on stage, you can't mix drinks, you can't even carry a tray in flats without tripping, and you're not that good at lap dances. About the only thing you have going for you is your ass and tits. Which we all know is fake because your sugar daddy bought them for you before he dropped you." Stacey looked over the room. "All of us know that the women in the top three now have talent, beauty, and have earned their place there. Skin color and relationship status aside." With a sigh, she grabbed her bag. "And with that, I'm going home. If I'm quick enough, I may even be able to kiss my son goodnight."

"Say hi to Greg for me." Ethan said.

She nodded. "He may not want me to come back." She said stopping in front of him. "You know we've been talking about me quitting. He's making decent money now, I don't need to work here. Things will be tight, but not undoable."

He nodded. "Why don't you retire then, and I'll send you a retirement check once a month. It will be half what you usually make, but it's the least I can do for you and Greg."

She smiled. "He might like that."

The room went quiet again as the last woman to get an envelope left. Trina broke the silence. "Well, that happened."

"Alright ladies, pack your things, and follow us to your new accommodations." Ethan grinned. "We can leave the other ladies to get ready for tonight. We're opening a little later than usual anyway."

Mal went to her vanity, grateful to see at the very least that Kimberly was in too much of a shock to mess with her things. There wasn't really a whole lot she could do anyway. Mostly it would be to ruin all of the makeup, which would be pointless as it was all ordered in bulk by Ethan. What the girls wanted or needed were given to them, the rest was put into storage. As Mal didn't wear a whole lot, what little she had could be replaced in less time than it took for Kimberly to ruin it.

All thought left Mal as she stepped into the dressing room. Empty huh? Well, not anymore. She wondered if people brought in the furniture while Ethan was talking to the women. Her vanity was wide and long. Something more akin to a corner desk. The mirror was at least thirty-six inches wide, and at least four feet tall. Added to the floor to ceiling mirror against the wall across from it. Behind her, there was an armchair and a sofa. Not something she'd want in her home, but decent enough for this room she supposed. A door to the bathroom stood across from the door into the dressing room itself.

She'd never been in here, or any of the dressing rooms. She could see why Kimberly, Bertha, and Debbie had wanted to keep these to themselves. Willing to do anything to keep them.

"Which is probably how they lost them." She muttered as she set her bags down.

"What was that?" Ethan asked stepping inside and closing the door.

"Just thinking that the trio's willingness to do anything to keeps these rooms is what put them in their current positions." She said opening a door she didn't notice before. Finding hanging racks with clothes on them.

She heard Ethan sigh. "More than likely."

She turned and saw him sitting in the armchair, his elbows on his knees, his face down, and his hands fisted in his hair. "Do you regret your choices then?"

He resurfaced. "Absolutely not!" He took a calming breath and sat back. "It took all of my self-control to not yell or tell them that the cops were waiting for all of them, minus Stacey outside. J made sure to tell Stacey to wait until the cops were gone before leaving. Ralph is staying with her till Greg gets here."

"She called her husband?" Mal asked curiously as she unpacked.

"Yeah, the car she had was the club's anyway." Ethan sighed. "I'm sad to see her go."

"She was here with you when you started working here right?"

"Her and Greg yeah." He said with a nod. "Greg and I were bartenders, she was a beginner at the club. Part lap dancer, part bartender. They fell in love early on. Married a few years later. They worked and together put him through college, and she took a few courses at the community college. He got on at a law firm but was an intern for the longest time. She worked here to keep paying the bills. When they had Jimmy, he'd been promoted to full-time staff. Here recently, he was made partner, and the firm is doing quite well."

"Sounds like it was a matter of time then." She said looking over the clothes. "How did you come to own the place?"

"Ten years and working to make yourself invaluable to the owner has its merits." He said with a dark tone. "I worked, made myself his second hand. Coaxed him into making me a partner so he could "relax". I never liked how underhanded he ran the place. I started to make changes little by little. All those with criminal records were banned from here. I finally kicked the old man out a couple of years ago, and I've been working hard ever since to make this place reputable, and on the right side of the law. The deal I have with the cops works in their favor as well as mine."

"So that brings us to tonight." She said not looking at him. "Did they have any other requests other than me?"

"Lace." He said, she could see in the mirrors that he was staring at her. "Something with lace. Apparently, the groom and his best man have a fetish for the fabric. Or at least so the best man claims, but that's what they requested."

"Do I detect kindred spirit in that?" She asked looking back at him with a small smile.

"I like anything you wear." He said simply.

She shook her head. "You're not at all worried that the girls will think their suspicions are confirmed?"

"It's my hope that they are made right." He said standing. "Tomorrow the papers should be signed."

She nodded. "Hopefully."

"Then why not?" He asked making her look at him. "Don't give me that age crap, I'm thirty-four and you're twenty-nine, it's not that big of a difference. Don't give me that employee and employer crap it belittles us both. Tell me?"

She took a careful breath and looked at him. "Ethan, I went from being a daughter to being married. I was abused in both places, in ways you can't imagine, and no I will not go into detail." She said raising her hand before he could persist. "I've faced more pain, and more horror, than any person, should bear, especially a child." She looked down at this next part, she had to drive this point home, to him, and herself. "I also," She sniffed and resurfaced, doing her best to keep her voice firm. "I can't have children."

That gave Ethan pause. She knew it, like every man, he wanted what she ultimately, could not give.

"The doctors confirmed it a couple of years ago. Which is what led me to where I am." She said softly. "He left me for some tart little thing fresh out of high school, and she was pregnant with his child when he left. He doesn't want me to know, but I know. My lawyer follows them on Facebook and was trying to find an angle that he could against them. I told him not to."

She took a step back, "If you feel you can be with me, without having children that way. Maybe we can adopt someday." She looked him in the eye. "But don't try to think that you can get a miracle. I had to have a total hysterectomy, which is how Drew's affair started, I couldn't have sex, and he wanted it."

Ethan turned and left then. She took several calming breaths before choosing her outfit for the night.

 **}TLCW{**

While she loved to dance, work was work. She wore a black button up shirt, and pants that tied up the sides. Her midnight purple hair was down, she only wore some makeup: the concealer to the hide the red in her cheeks as dancing always had her a little embarrassed, and the bags under her eyes to hide her exhaustion, a shimmering eyeshadow that made her pale eyes stand out more, and a smoky lavender lipstick to compliment her purple hair.

On stage on the second floor, the place where the private parties were held, she danced for the room of men. Slowly stripping. It took two songs to get her shirt completely off, revealing the lace camisole underneath. It didn't leave much to the imagination as her breasts, the natural F-cups that they were, were stretching the material so thin it could rip with just the right tug. Which she was sure was on all of the men's minds.

The groom to be was in the center. Wearing a king's crown on his head. While his friends were all loud and catcalling, she could see he was mesmerized. Perhaps hypnotized from the way he barely blinked. From the moment she stepped out, despite the other girls who had been requested giving their lap dances, he opted out, and just stared.

Another song saw her pants falling to her feet as she kicked them off the stage. The best man caught them and wore them around his neck like a trophy. Cheering and viciously shaking the groom. She danced a couple more songs on the stage, singing along with them as she knew the men liked. Kicking off her shoes, careful to aim where the men weren't. She twisted and dropped, rolled and twitched her fingers towards her as if beckoning the men towards her. To their credit, despite their drunken jubilation, they did not try to climb on top of the stage.

With her well and truly stripped as far as she would go, the dancing for the night ended, and she descended from the stage. All other men were well and truly forgotten when she sat down beside the groom, legs crossed, arm hanging over the back of the couch. She smiled at him.

"So, tell me, is it a lap dance, or a conversation?"

He looked at her confused. "Pardon?"

She just smiled kindly. "Generally, Grooms to be are in two groups. You have the ones who lament their single days and want as much dirty play as they get away with. There are a few in that category who want more, but we don't cater to such desires. The other group just wants to talk because they don't want to dishonor their wife just before they vow to spend the rest of their lives together."

"What kind do I look like to you?" He asked softly.

"At first glance," She said assessing, "you look like you belong the first group. However, after sitting down next to you, I can tell you're in the second group."

"What makes you think that I won't ask?" He said defensively.

"Hey!" the best man called from his seat, as if to help his friend, though she knew he could not hear the conversation. "Stripper! Get off your ass and do what I paid you to do!"

"Because despite what that sack of flesh lacking in morals may think if you," She said firmly, but in a kind tone, "You are loyal to your wife to be, you love her very much. You came because this is for them, and your woman knows this. Just as you trust her, she trusts you. We would make a fool out of her if you asked for a dance."

The groom closed his eyes and lowered his head, she could see him smiling, but when he resurfaced that look was gone. "Perhaps we could go somewhere more private?"

She took his hand and led him to a curtained stall, behind them the group cheered as the curtain closed. Despite the privacy, they provided, each stall had two cameras to make sure the rules of the house were obeyed. But the stalls provided that forbidden desire, intimacy, and seclusion for the shy. Mostly for situations like this where the groom to be could sit back and relax, and not have to do anything that would betray his bride.

The groom to be sat back with a relieved sigh. "Thank you."

"Not exactly what you were wanting I take it?" She asked pulling on the robe she'd set inside in hopes of this event.

"No." He admitted as she sat down across from him. "I wanted a quiet night at home, a deep-dish pizza loaded with everything. My Cammy has a thing against jalapenos and peppers. Maybe play a few video games, or hell, even watch a game like we did in the old days. Before we grew up and they became drunk half of the time."

He sighed as he rested his head back. "You're right, this was all for them. It shocks them to no ends that I'm with Cammy, they think she's boring. They keep asking if I have a mistress and keep checking to see if I do, and are disappointed when I don't. I believe this was part of Dex's plan to make me see how much "better" life would be without Cammy. But they don't know her like I do."

"More than that, I think they don't understand what kind of future you actually want." Mal said carefully. "They can't think past getting drunk every weekend, laying bitches, and working just to do it all over again. That freedom, that power they feel they have. You, on the other hand, have a goal, you have a future in mind. One that involves being married, with children." She took a deep breath. "Being the misogynistic pigs that they are, they think you're being manipulated, blackmailed, something. No friend of theirs could possibly ever want that."

He nodded. "Pretty sure they've said the something along those lines a couple of times.

"No offense." She said with a gentle smile, "But if that's how they're going to treat you and your bride, why are you still friends with them? Nostalgic reasons aside, if they can't be true friends and support you, why are they still in your life if all they do is make you miserable?"

He grinned at her, "Are you a stripper or a shrink?"

She laughed. "You'd be surprised how often we're both."

At that moment his phone rang. Thanks to being away from the music, and in the private booth he was able to hear it and answer it in peace.

"Hey honey," He said with a bright smile that warmed Mal's heart. "Yeah, no you were right. Dex did exactly as you said he would. No, I'm actually in a private booth with the leading woman tonight, and she's not half naked trying to dry hump me." He paused for a moment and looked at her a little worried. "She wants to face time, is that . . ."

"Perfectly fine." She said scooting across the couch as he got it up and running. She came to see a blonde haired woman, with a worried expression on her face. "Hi, you must be Cammy."

"You know my name?" Cammy said looking horrified.

"Only because you're groom here has told me," Mal said carefully not to touch the man in question. "Listen, Cammy, despite Dex's efforts, we here at Red Lights have a code. If a person demands a lap dance, we're obligated to give him one. However, in cases such as this, the groom is often taken to a private corner, much like this, and nothing happens. We just sit, talk, or don't, and let the outside world think what they want. I can assure you, despite Dex paying extra, if your groom doesn't ask for it, then I won't do it."

Cammy relaxed visibly and seemed close to tears. "You sound sincere."

Mal smiled softly at her. "Given that, I was once where you are, and my groom did the opposite, I don't blame you for your worry. Actually, my groom did more than that. His so-called "best friend" was a girl, and despite all of their assurances, he did sleep with her several times before, leading up to, and after our wedding. As I said, if they ask for it, I can't say no, but your man has been true to you, and he's a treasure gifted from Heaven, don't let him go."

Cammy smiled, with tears running down her cheeks. "Thank you, I won't." She sniffed and looked back at her groom who had been too scared to talk. "I promise honey, our first anniversary it will be spent at home, with a deep-dish pizza with everything for you, and a plain cheese for me. We'll watch a game, or a movie, something, but it will be just us. Hell, I'll even try to play those video games you like so much."

He grinned at her, "Sounds like a plan sweetheart, I love you so much, I can't wait to get married."

Mal watched the couple and smiled brightly hoping her tears weren't showing too much.

 **}TLCW{**

Three hours later, and the club was winding down, meaning cabs were being called for the bachelor party, with the groom who was the only one left sober, making sure the drivers were paid and they all got to where they were needed. Dex, the best man in question, was sober enough to question why his "best friend" was still sober and not sucking on the pretty stripper's tit. The groom, to his credit, grinned, saying he already had the pleasure of that and much more.

Mal merely chuckled at the glee that crossed Dex's face. She did her best to look stoic when he looked at her hopeful. She shook her head, saying he wasn't the groom. She knew Dex was going to go around telling everyone what the groom "did", unknown to him, however, was Cammy and her groom already had the plan figured out. The groom would tell Dex that little tidbit, just keep Dex off of him, and tomorrow at the wedding, if Dex said that to Cammy she would grin, and say she knew, she watched. Everyone else was told to say the same thing if Dex approached them. They were sure Dex would be silent, too shocked to say or do anything for the rest of the day.

Mal laughed hysterically after Dex had been escorted away by the groom and she found herself alone in her dressing room. She walked into the bathroom and stripped down before stepping into the shower. Given that she was exhausted, she knew when she got back to her apartment that the club owned and managed, she would curl up on her bed, her two cats Nebula and Cosmos would snuggle in with her, and they would all pass out. Since she splurged and got them an automatic feeder set on a timer for three times a day, she didn't have to worry about feeding them. Though they did appreciate the tuna she gave them, and the salmon on occasion.

When she walked back the dressing room, Ethan was sitting in the chair, she was grateful she dressed in the bathroom. He looked up at her, his eyes held a bit of longing, but his expression was thoughtful.

"I thought about what you said, and you're right, it's a lot to think about." He said with a careful nod. "Because again, you're right in the fact that I had a vision of you pregnant with my child." He looked up with a blank expression, "But I don't need that to find happiness with you."

"Ethan," She said crossing her arms, "Now's just . . ."

"Not a good time, I know." He said standing, "But we've got time. You work on your divorce, then yourself, and I'll work on the club. We'll see where we end up, is that alright with you?"

She could only nod and watch him walk away again. With deep careful breaths, she collected her purse and sweater before heading out. In the hallway were the other women. She sighed exhaustedly.

"What now, another attack?"

"Actually," Trina said with a smile, "We wanted to walk you out and congratulate you. You know I never wanted the spotlight. I just dance to pay the bills. I've got a kid to feed, but unlike Stacey, I ain't got no man."

"I know you didn't have anything to do with the former trio being kicked out," Vanessa said with a bright grin, her chocolate colored skin shiny in the fluorescent light. "But I'm glad they're gone, and I'm glad you're in charge now. You've been a great person and fun to work with. I hope you get everything you want to tomorrow and keep working here."

Mal grinned as they began to walk. "Of course, I'll keep working here, where else will I get paid this well and get to dance for a living?"

Their laughter had her leaving with a smile and a bit of energy as she climbed into her car. She thought for a moment something felt a bit off but paid it no mind. She would be home soon. She'd have the car checked out tomorrow. She drove the winding road with ease, she drove up the hill fine, but when she put her foot to the break, it went all the way down but didn't slow. Going down the hill, she only sped up. The curve coming up was too sharp, she did all that she could think, and still, the car flipped, and crashed into the river. Her head hit the dashboard, and that was the last thing she felt.

A bright light filled the world behind her eyelids and she took a testing breath before opening her eyes. Where was she, a kind of private theater? Then, she remembered, all of her past lives, and where she was. Only, instead of it being her irate pathetic excuse of a guardian angel, there were many other angels in the room and one without wings.

"Well, this is new." She couldn't help but chuckle.

}TLCW{

Updated on 4/27/19


	4. Chapter 4: A Meeting of Souls

**_AN:_** _Sorry for the delay in the chapter. I'm the only one editing on these and I have to put them through several rounds before they are at least "Acceptable" in my opinion._

 _My surgery went well, and I'm healing up nice and fast._

 ** _Warning:_** _Mature content ahead. Maybe not in this chapter, but they will be featured heavily in the following two._

 _Also, they will be very dialogue heavy._

 _Also, I would like to mention, and this will become apparent later in the chapter, I have nothing against religion, priests, or nuns. I even have an aunt who's a nun and she has peace and happiness in her life._

 _However, the difference is, the "religion" that is being spoken of from Mal's world, isn't a religion, it's a cult. Which will also be explained in further detail later on. So please, while it may seem confusing at first, all will become apparent in due time._

 **}TLCW{**

"Okay," Mal said sitting back and getting comfortable as the chair beneath her changed from her driver's seat to one of the plush recliners in the room, "I take it from your black wings that I'm either going to hell as Rida has always been screeching that I will, or you're all here for a different reason?"

Given that she knew Rida often spouted crap from her mouth as if it was gold, Mal was fairly certain that the threats about Mal going to hell because of her own sins were just that. Crap. Else she would have given up on Mal and tossed her into the dark abyss that was Hell already. She had come to learn through Rida's omissions and talking without answering questions, compared to Mal's pure honesty, no matter how much she tried to lie when she talked, that this place, heaven, purgatory, whatever, wouldn't allow its people to lie. Which is why when Rida talked it sounded robotic, not the truth, but not a lie either, it's what Rida truly believed.

Mal was glad to see others there when she woke up this time. When one moved toward her, he had her full attention, and she couldn't help it as she stared wide-eyed. The angel was an orc, a motherfucking orc with black wings and he grinned at her, with surprising ease given the tusks in his mouth.

A mythical creature, that was one of the many that Rida denounced the existence of when Mal's interest leaned more towards fantasy. Now he was standing before her. Further proof of Rida's lie by omission and personal belief. And it left Mal with a lot more questions than she cared to admit.

Did this mean the world had creatures like Orc and elves? Was her world destined to become one like that movie Bright? She'd enjoyed it, but it threw a person head first into like the middle of a story without explaining anything but the bare minimum. It was a little late now to wonder if there were books, comics, or would be a graphic novel? Based on the story of Bright.

"A different reason." He said in a deep baritone voice, catching her attention once more. "Though the show there at the end was rather enjoyable." His mischievous grin left no doubt to what he was referring to.

"Glad you enjoyed it." She giggled nervously. Really, what else was she supposed to say to them? She was an awkward introvert, unable to get work elsewhere for a reason. At least at the club, she didn't have to socialize much.

Contrary to what others thought of her social skills and conversation talents, she was awkward and often spent hours after every encounter second-guessing her words and thinking people thought her a fool. She knew it to be the result of the way she was raised and the marriage she endured. She'd gotten better over her two years working for a living. Still, she had down days, and this was obviously a down day.

"Filthy demons need to shut up and stay away from my charge!" Rida spat. Once more drawing Mal's ever wondering mind back to the topic at hand.

Mal literally had to bite her tongue, hard enough to almost cut through, to keep the Gollum reference she was thinking of from coming out. It was ever so hard, but she miraculously managed it. Didn't help that the last thing she watched before going into work was the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies.

This place wouldn't let you lie, it also wouldn't stop impulsive thoughts from popping out either. Which got her into trouble in the past with Rida when she said the first thing that came to mind. She shuddered remembering a time when she fought with Rida about something she impulsively said, obviously, Rida won that round.

Rida, the pathetic excuse of a guardian angel, the topic of her thoughts, stood and approached Mal. "Sign this and get on with your next life. This time you will do it right child, or it will be hellfire's and brimstones for you!" Rida looked around then looked back at Mal. "The current company should be proof of enough of that!"

All of the men, which she did notice that everyone else in the room were men, including what looked to be another soul, shouted "NO!"

Mal was shocked by the anger and sheer determination displayed on each of them.

"Mal, do NOT sign that!" The orc said stepping closer to her, the leader of the band of black wings obviously. His urgency and sincerity ringing true and clear, for the first time, Mal heard the complete truth in his words and felt the magic of the place confirming it in her very soul.

"I don't know where or how she got that, but that's not your contract." He frowned deeply, again she was surprised he could manage that with the tusks in his mouth. "You were never even supposed to have a contract. Gabriel himself asked me to oversee this lifetime, on Michael's orders, I might add. You suffered needlessly, and terribly, because of a fake contract!"

"LIES!" Rida shouted. Mal heard the urgency in her tone as well, along with a hint of desperation. However, that was it, Rida's usual robotic tone was back, and it held nothing of the ring of truth she heard from the Orc seconds prior. "Child, you've been raised many times now with the word of God being spoken in your home. You know evil comes not in ugly creatures, but in the face of beauty to deceive the good and pure souls."

No one missed the fact that Rida just called the orc a face of beauty. Who shook his head rather quickly and stared at Rida in abject horror. Mal got the image of Silent Bob's face doing the same thing in one of his earlier movies, one that Rida screamed at her for even thinking about watching it because they played as prophets in the movie. Apparently, that movie was sacrilege of the highest order, and she would personally see to their torment when things were "righted" again in Heaven. Whatever that meant.

"Do not let them sway you now!" Rida ordered urgently, continuing on as if everyone wasn't reacting to her previous statement at all. "Yes, your mortal shell fell victim to the depravity of lust, **_yet again_** , and while I was truly sickened to the core by your actions, I was proud that you withstood from sins of the flesh. There is hope for you yet my dear, now sign your contract."

Again, all of the men shouted NO! And once again, the Orc desperately talked.

"Mal, you're a free thinker that's why you never fit in well with that family. You know heaven and the afterlife don't work that way, you know it." The orc said cautiously, his hands raised in surrender. "That contract will merely see that life repeated **again**." Mal noticed his voice went from desperate, yet cautious, to downright venomous. "Rida actually would have made this life worse than the others if I hadn't interfered. All of the beatings were done with her prompting. Your husband being small dicked, then leaving you, her doing. Your not being able to have children, her doing."

Mal looked at Rida, while she had suspected before, the angel merely confirmed it. Not once had the ring of truth vanished from his words as he spoke. "Is that true?"

Rida turned her nose up at her, as she often did when Mal asked pointed questions and did so to promote her superiority to Mal. "It was not in your contract, so yes. I stepped in to assure you would go on the right path."

"Then what was that job?" Mal asked looking about the room.

"My doing." The orc said sheepishly admitted, one hand rubbing the back of his neck as he refused to look her in the end. "It was better than her option."

"Which was?" Mal asked looking back to Rida.

Rida looked furious. "You were supposed to accept the invitation from your aunt to visit the nunnery! You were supposed to be inducted as a nun!"

"But that was not her destiny!" The orc shouted, his fury etched into every word. "To start with, because she'd been married, they wouldn't have taken her! She wouldn't have wanted that, or proved herself enough to get it! Second, I've read the original file and the current one. I didn't need Gabriel to tell me what Michael had planned for her because I saw it with my own eyes! She was supposed to fall in love, get married, and have lots of children who would go on to do incredible things in the world! Michael ordered that! You know him right, the leader of the Arch Angels? Personal liaison for God!? Those were his specific instructions, and they are gospel to us angels, and you went and defied them!"

Mal looked at the orc in shock, and her heart aching at the thought. "That's really true, isn't it?"

"YES!" The orc insisted as Rida shouted, "NO!"

But the Orc carried on as if Rida hadn't spoken, and Mal hung onto his every word. "You would have run away right after your graduation, going to a college you were accepted into with a teacher's help, and left the family for good. He was an older student, studying for a psychology major. Because of the abuse you suffered, you would have fought against love at first, but then embraced it and allowed it to heal you. You then would teach your children to be mindful of those who would hurt them, but still, love with all of they are." The orc said with a warm smile. "With you and your husband, they would have been the pioneers to see a better future for all children." He glared at Rida, "She saw to it, that not only they would never be born, but that the rest of your world would suffer for a great deal many years."

"Why?" Mal asked looking at Rida. "Why would you do that? You're supposed to be an angel for fuck's sake and look out for the betterment of the world! Why Rida!?"

Rida's nostrils flared as she breathed deeply and yelled with all of her might. "They speak lies!"

"We can't lie here!" Mal said standing up finally and facing Rida. No matter how much Rida might claim the high ground as a superior, Mal was taller, and she now had an army at her back. Rida, stood alone. "Sure, you can repeat something if you believe with every fiber of your being that it's true, which do you so often. But when it comes to the big things, the true matter, lies are impossible." She pointed to the orc and the other black wings. "I can tell what they are saying is the truth. You on, the other hand, it's like you're repeating something you read from a book. So tell me why?"

Rida was silent for a long moment before she once again turned her nose up. "No charge of mine will partake in the sins of the flesh. I was made an angel because of my purity, I will see my charges rise for they are the same."

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." Mal said with a shake of her head.

In a rush of movement that Mal could not see, and the others could not stop, Rida was suddenly in front of her, and slapped her hard across the face.

"Do not use that befouled language in my presence!" Rida screamed. The room stood shocked that Rida had actually done such a thing. She used the opportunity to put the contract in Mal's hands. "Now sign this you vivacious slut! Go back to your mortal shell so you may be cleansed!"

"A vivacious slut, huh?" Mal mused before the men could say anything. She looked at the glowing contract. She knew what it said, she'd read this thing a number of times already. There was no out, no what-if scenarios. Mal had to endure all of that abuse from start to finish, and she had to get to an unspecified ending that Rida wanted. Though now that Rida let the cat out of the bag, Mal knew what it was Rida wanted from her. To become a nun.

Mal could live without sex and true love, she'd done that so many times now. She could live without having children. But what she couldn't do, was go through all of the hypocritical bullshit anymore. The church officiates and proprietors saying one thing then doing another, expecting the masses to just react as if nothing terrible just happened.

Prime examples would be her stepfather's behavior and her husbands. While she was expected to stay at home and obey her husband's orders, he was allowed to go out and sleep with his best friend, and a young girl fresh out of high school. While she was banned, her husband was still welcomed by the church, as well as his mistress and their children. Her stepfather was treated with the same reverence, despite his many indiscretions. The men could do no wrong, while the women were merely tolerated.

And she was supposed to become a nun for them? A faithful follower to this religion, devote in a rather extreme way? No. She couldn't do that. If she believed as they did, she probably could have, but she didn't, and there was no point in pretending otherwise.

She turned the contract on its side and proceeded to rip it in half again, and again, and again until it was in tiny little pieces. It's glowing dimmed with each tear. When the glowing stopped, she dropped the pieces to the floor.

"Sorry Rida, but I'd rather be a vivacious slut and go to hell than to go through that life one more time. I'll never get it right because the orc is right."

"Tarnok." The orc said softly, trying not to laugh as the others in the room were simply hysterical.

"Tarnok then." Mal nodded thankfully in his direction. Crossing her arms looking at Rida with a glare. "I don't believe as that family does because I know it's not true. I felt in every mortal life that what I was living was wrong. I cried myself to sleep every night because I felt like I wasn't doing something that I should, but I couldn't figure out what. Coming back here after each life clarifies for me what's wrong. It was that contract.

"My soul knew, even if my mind didn't understand it, that the mortal life you forced me to live wasn't right, wasn't for me. The fact that an angel would condemn an innocent child to that fate, let alone an adult soul, is beyond vicious and cruel, that's not something an angel would do. No matter how much you say it was for the best, there was no "best" in any situation or scenario in that life. Not to mention I knew every time you tried to convince me that you weren't telling me the truth."

Rida didn't seem to hear what Mal was saying. She was staring at the contract in utter shock.

"What's your problem now?" Mal demanded with a growl.

"You, you tore the sacred word of god!" Rida began sobbing hysterically dropping to her knees to hastily recover the torn up contract. "You ungrateful little whore how you could be so cruel!? So vile!?"

Mal rolled her eyes at yet another example of the hypocrisy that seemed to permeate her existence. Once more, Rida's tone sounded robotic. She knew the contract was fake, but believed wholeheartedly, that any contract made was "the word of God". How was it Mal knew next to nothing about this place but seemed to have a better understanding of things than Rida did? Something to think about she supposed.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she looked at Tarnok, "You said Gabriel asked you to watch over me, right?"

He nodded.

"Any way I can speak with him about this?" She asked, doing her best to hide her nervousness. "I realize there is much I need to learn, and I realize he's probably very busy, but I need to start somewhere, and he's the one who ordered you here, seems like a good place to start."

"He's in communion with the higher ups right now." Tarnok said with a sigh of great relief. He looked at the only other soul in the room. "But you can go back with his charge to his office and wait for him there. You're right, he's the one to talk to about this, as I'm sure, no matter how much pleasure I would take in having you as my charge, he has other plans for you. The others and I are going to go wait for him to get out of communion so we can deliver our report to him ourselves. He'll be very interested to know what's been happening here."

She, deciding to overlook the malice that was in Tarnok's tone, since it was obviously directed at one pathetic angel still trying to piece back together a torn-up piece of paper, looked at the man who met her eyes. "Is that alright with you?"

"If it gets you away from that crazy bitch, I'm all for it." He said offering his hand.

Mal took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright," she took his hand. "Lead the way."

"Stay with the lad, he'll make sure you're safe from this wench." Tarnok nodded his approval. "Alright, you lot," He said getting other black-wings attention, all of them glued on her, "let's go wait on Gabriel to give him the report."

"Yes!" Rida exclaimed rising to her feet. "Gabriel! If there's an angel that will put you in your place it's him!" She narrowed her eyes at Mal. "Just you wait, you'll pay for what you've done child!"

"Somehow," Mal said looking around at the new-found protectors that encircled her, and the soul that stepped in front of her, still holding her hand, then back at Rida, "I get the feeling that you'll be the one to pay, not me."

"Lad," Tarnok said firmly, "Take Mal out of here now."

Mal followed the man, out of the room. At first, they moved with such haste that she feared they had a long way to go, after a few moments, when they felt the rush of air from angels hurrying away in the opposite direction, they slowed to a steady pace, and Mal breathed a sigh of relief.

Her hand was still held tightly in his. Not uncomfortably, just, oddly. No one had ever held her hand this tight. In life, or death. She waited for him to drop her hand, but it never happened. Odd. Though, perhaps this was the norm? It wasn't like she had much experience in this place for a basis of comparison.

Other than today, the only person she had met here was Rida. And that blonde angel with blue wings in her last afterlife who assured her that she had to sign the contract to return to life. She had asked if it was the right one for her, feeling that it was wrong, but that question was left unanswered. Mal was glad to see that this afterlife was different.

She wondered what changed to make the angels look into Rida's guidance over her? Why would the leader of the Arch Angels care about her? She wasn't anything special, right?

"You're awfully quiet." The man said looking back at her for the first time since they left her room when they reached a dead end of the hallway.

"Just, lost in thought." Mal said looking around, "uh, where are we?"

"Gabriel's office is in there." The man said gesturing to the wall.

"But it's a wall."

"Very astute." He grinned at her.

"Obviously it's warded or something, so he doesn't get disturbed unless he wants to." She said looking around deciding to ignore his mocking of her for the moment, as she deserved it for the bland comment, "But how do we get in?"

"Like this." The man said before turning back to the wall and roundhouse kicked at it. The large golden door appearing and slowly swinging open after he created a massive hole in the wall.

She stared wide-eyed. Unsure if she should be shocked, horrified, or a mix of both.

"You, uh," she attempted a chuckle, but it came out in a huff, "You don't like your guardian angel much, huh?"

He looked at her confused. "I like him just fine, why?"

She gestured to the door as she walked through. "That."

"Oh that," he said with a shrug. "The winged prick shouldn't have locked me out."

"Wow." She said as the door closed by itself. With a resigned sigh that she was here to stay for at least a little while, she turned and saw the bookshelves. "Wow!" She said again with more emotion. "What are these books? They don't have titles on the spine," after a quick check to confirm, "and no titles on the cover either. What are these books?"

"The history of Creation of both the mortal and immortal plains, and angel manuals, rules, and guidelines." He said sounding a little bored by the subject.

"They have books on the matter!? You mean, it's been here, available, this whole time!?" Mal turned him, eyes wide and her excitement getting the better of her. "Really!? You mean, I can absolutely learn all of it without consequence!?"

He nodded leaning against the wall looking confused. "Why wouldn't you be able to?"

She fixed him with a glare. "You've met my angel, have you already forgotten about her?"

"Oh, right." He nodded. "And yes, she's that insignificant." He shrugged. "At least to me. That's how I deal with people here."

Mal blew out a sigh, he obviously dealt with more angels here than she did, so she wasn't going to knock his methods. She clasped her hands behind her back to keep from snatching at the books as she smiled at them wistfully. "I have so many questions. Had since I first encountered Rida, but as you can imagine, she was less than helpful in answering them."

"I'll bet." He scoffed.

"She was always in a rush to get me onto the next mortal life." Mal explained. "So I was always in the dark about everything. I asked to learn, to understand, so I might follow her orders easier, but she falls into that troupe that lesser beings don't need to know the truth, or understand how everything works. I was supposed to be a mindless pawn that obeyed her every order."

"I imagine that was Rida's goal from what little I've seen of her." He sighed as well. "Something I would know from personal experience."

"Huh?" She looked back at him confused, and he just shook his head. A topic that was off limits, she would recognize that signal in her sleep.

"So, is there a name for where we are?" She asked casually changing the subject.

"Purgatory." He said, sounding as if he said it before to others a thousand times before. "The place where souls are tried for their sins and sent onto their next journey."

"Heaven, or Hell?" She looked at him confused. "Or, rebirth as the case may be with us?"

"Yes, and no." He said leaning against the wall. "The Underworld is where they torture souls who have sinned, and then they are put back in the rebirth cycle. Hell is where the souls who've sinned far too much for redemption are put to suffer eternally, however, there have been a few cases of a miracle happening where a soul managed to see the errors of their ways, and are transferred to the underworld to repent before going back to the rebirth cycle. Heaven is where the mortal souls who've earned the right to rest go. They can rest for eternity, sleeping peacefully, or they can rest for a time and then go back into the rebirth cycle once they are ready again."

Mal stared at him so entranced, "Really!?" She looked back at the books, so many questions filling her head so fast she was practically dizzy with anticipation and desire to learn more. "And those books go into more detail and explain everything?"

"Yup." He confirmed popping his P, "You're welcome to sit and read them all you want Mal. I've read them a couple of times already, so they hold nothing new for me."

"Oh!" She looked back at him embarrassed, "You already know who I am, I'm Mal. Sorry for not introducing myself before, but I never got your name?"

He laughs, "Yeah, I never did give it, did I?" He took the hand she offered him just then, "I'm Harry."

She took his hand and politely shook it. However, she was unable to stop the giggle.

"Sorry," She immediately apologized at his quizzical look. "I've never known a Harry. The only time I knew the name to be used was in the Harry Potter books. They were among my favorites! I've read them several times and read a number of fanfictions because I feel like there was a lot of plot holes and things that could have been fixed in the canon versions. I'm not the only one, and I've been a happy reader to a lot of others as well. Even wrote a few myself, but that's not important right now." She stopped babbling and looked away embarrassed before taking a calming breath and looking back at him with a smile. "But you probably got a lot of that when alive and find the whole thing a little annoying, am I right?"

He took a bracing breath, there really was no way to keep this a secret forever. "You," He raised a hand and showed off the iconic scar, visible even in death. "could say that."

Though in the truth, having the Horcrux removed left the scar barely visible at all. It was there, for those who knew what they were looking for, but it finally healed over after that last piece of Tom's soul was removed from his body.

Mal stared. That was it. She fell silent and went wide-eyed. He waited for the stream of questions, for the shrieks of excitement at having met a celebrity. It wouldn't have been the first time he encountered such a reaction, even in the afterlife "The Boy Who Lived" had a strong fanbase. Only, it never came. She just stood frozen, staring.

Worried he waved a hand over her face, "Uh, Mal, you okay over there?"

Mal couldn't help it. She just admitted to being obsessed with Harry Potter, and overtly so, and he just admitted to being the big man himself. She felt just as bad as the obsessed fangirl Ginny she'd read about in several fanfictions. The canon downplayed her reaction a lot, but in the fanfictions, imaginations ran wild and it showed the whole crazy side one would expect from an obsessed fangirl.

And she admitted to being one! Oh! She wanted to put her head through a wall and not look at him anymore from the embarrassment. But when he waved his hand in front of her face, she knew she had to say something.

"Uh," unsure where to even begin. Should she apologize? He didn't look upset. "Can you really be real!?" She found herself asking. Despite the shock, her voice came out soft. "Can you and magic really exist if there is a whole series of books, movies, and a prequel series about you and your world!?"

A thought came over and she narrowed her eyes a bit suspicious. "Is J.K. Rowling really a squib who made a profit off your life story!?" Another thought a occurred to her and it followed out of her mouth before she could stop it. Not for the first time, she damned the magic of this place. "Or was it Rita Skeeter who was banished and wrote the story as a way payback at you for finally putting her in her place!? And that's why the story was so bad with so many villainous characters behind the scenes and had you marrying the wrong woman!? Ginny was just a terrible match for you in my opinion!"

Mal then clasped her hands over her mouth, willing her verbal diarrhea that was her talking to stop! However, her mouth may have stopped, but her thoughts pushed forward all of her firm beliefs on the matter. The power of this place wanted her voice everything.

Harry, seeing her struggling to hold back certain things, for which he was grateful, decided to take mercy on her. He quickly chose not to comment on how wrong Ginny was for him and found himself chuckling darkly. "I wish."

"You wish?" She repeated confused.

He fixed her with that quizzical look again. "If I wish it were that way, and yet, you know the story, what's the reason for that?"

Mal stared at him for a moment before realizing what he was doing. She was never allowed the chance to ask questions, really sit and think about the situation, and find answers. Rida would never allow it, and often put a stop to it the moment Mal began. So she stopped now and thought about what he said.

The events that happened in the book series, while similar to what happened in reality, there was no indication in her History of any kind of hidden war. Which she realized the wizarding world would do what they could to cover it up, but all of the sudden disappearances and deaths they wouldn't be able to cover up. While there had been murders and disappearances, there wasn't a wide spread of it to indicate the Voldemort war in her life. More than the murders and disappearances, there was nothing along the lines of collapsed buildings in London or bridges.

She found herself looking away from Harry as she thought about things, and began pacing as she thought. Harry, seemed content to stand back and let her brood.

From what she knew about Harry Potter, he was born on July 31st, 1980. Making him 38 in the year she died, 2018, but he looked closer to his mid-twenties than his early forties. She was born in 1989. So she was eight, nine years his junior. But, in the canon, he was still well and alive and helping raise his children with Ginny. Right?

No to mention, how the people in her world knew the story in the first place since he just admitted that wasn't the case. So, how?

"Oh," She looked around and then back at him. A sudden realization dawning on her. "I had a thought, would you mind if I pick at your brain a bit?"

"So long as it stays in my skull, sure." He grinned at her.

"I don't have my knitting needles anyway." She shrugged as he coughed trying to cover up his nervous laugh.

Unsure if she meant that or not.

"I just remembered something," She said biting her lip unsure, "it was something that I played around with in High School, DND, and other fantasy things, plus fanfiction touches upon this a lot in certain stories." She looked up at him worried, and his face was stoic, just waiting for her to continue. "It's something along the lines of multiverse theory?"

He cracked a bit of a smile but still said nothing.

"So, if you're actually the Harry Potter, and magic is real, well obviously, you can't be from my world. Nothing that happened in your life, happened in my world. Clearly, your world and my world are different." She said stating the facts at first, "So that's it! You're from another world! It's the only logical explanation, or as logical as one can be standing in Purgatory as a soul. There are many worlds out there, and people get glimpses of other worlds and it comes out in their writing, artwork, and such."

He tapped his nose with a little grin. "Yup. Took me a bit longer to make the same realization, but then I didn't have a fictional character standing before me."

She started to bounce a little at the prospects. "That means the multiverse theory might actually be true!"

She'd mentioned that before, and he was pretty sure he knew what she meant by that, as the books in Gabriel's office mentioned something along those lines. But, just to be sure, he looked at her confused. "Huh?"

"It's a theory that for every decision you make, there's a world where you made a different choice and the fallouts of that choice. Many different choices, and many different outcomes. Going further into that theory, every story, every game, movie, what have you, might actually exist in some other world." She explained. "And the people who create the story are actually glimpsing another universe."

He shuddered. "I certainly hope not _every_ story, there are some that should never exist."

"Yeah," She conceded, "You have a point there." Then she continued absentmindedly. "There's more sciencey stuff to it that I don't understand personally, but that's what I took away from the theory. I could be wrong, and it could be another theory entirely that I'm thinking. However, I'm not sure, I was never good with science or its advanced theories."

"I have no idea either," he shrugged. "I studied magic, not theoretical science."

She giggled, imagining the great wizard Harry Potter, quitting magic to study science. "Arguably," She said with a grin, "Magic and science could be considered the same thing, or similar anyway. Isn't that one of the things the Department of Mystery studies?"

He thought about for a moment then shrugged. "It's possible, but I can't say for sure one way or the other."

She just smiled in answer.

Before he could think to stop himself, he found himself taking another step toward her. He couldn't help it, she was so beautiful and so naive about the truth surrounding them. He wanted to help her, wanted to touch her. Didn't have to be sexual, he just wanted to be near her. Even if he wanted to hide his feelings, emotions, when strongly felt, were compelled to be acted upon. Which is probably why his temper here was legendary.

He had thought this fact to be a benefit, now he wasn't as sure.

"If I may," Mal said looking down and stepping toward him as well causing his heart to skip a beat. At least, that's what it felt like, as he was made of soul, instead of matter, there was no way for his heart to actually beat. Maybe his soul pulsed? "You look similar to what I thought you would look like."

"Oh?" He asked with a raised eyebrow amused. "And the actor for my character didn't match this visage?"

She shook her head. "Not at all." She laughed. "He seemed too tan, and his hair wasn't dark enough, not to mention," She looked up into his eyes. "He didn't have the emerald jewels that you do."

He had to gulp at that. His eyes had been called many things to his knowledge, but no one had ever said that to him. He knew his previous wives may have said something along those lines, but once the potions left his system, any conversations he had with them, and others, seemed like a blur. He knew in a general sense what was spoken, but not word for word what was spoken.

Before today, he felt like his eyes were a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, they came from his mother, to threw out the laws of magic to find a way to protect him. She succeeded, and they were a memento of her. On the other hand, they were the same color as that blasted killing curse. The curse used by a terrorist in the Wizarding World, taking so many lives. Including that of his parents.

When his eyes were mentioned, it was to point out either of those facts. A show of power, in the future. However, when she said that, it felt like a compliment. A rare and true compliment on the color, with no comparison to his mother, the killing curse, or his power levels.

"Thanks." He found himself muttering.

He did look exactly like she imagined. Tall, black hair, emerald eyes. Though his physique was filled out and he didn't need his glasses. If she had to take a guess, it was because of the Horcrux being gone and this is what he should have been like all along.

"Did you really need glasses?" She found herself asking, "Or was that because of the Horcrux?"

"Combination of the Horcrux and limiters that Dumbledore placed on me." He sighed. Finding himself answering honestly, without even a hint of trying to downplay it or evade the question. "So I would look like a carbon copy of my father."

"I suspected as much." She nodded. "Does that mean you're a metamorphimagus or were you a good mix of both parents and Dumbledore locked a glamour on you as a baby?"

Harry huffed, "I have no idea about the metamorphimagus thing. There are some things that I can only learn as a mortal apparently. Or circumstances must be dire for me to learn about them here." He shrugged. "From what I gathered from Gabriel, yeah, I was a perfect mix of both parents, but Dumbledore locked me into a carbon copy of my father. Maybe it was glamour, maybe I am a metamorphimagus." He shook his head, "I have no idea."

"Indulge me here for a moment," Mal said raising her finger, "But magical healing is a lot more advanced then muggle healing, right?"

Harry nodded, "From what I've managed to learn and retain, yes."

"Then how come your father needed glasses?" She asked confused. "Wouldn't magic have been able to heal that, and yours as well?"

"My father was involved in an accident as a child." Harry frowned. "I asked similar questions when here in my previous times. Gabriel was able to answer some, that's when I learned there are some things I have to learn as a mortal. Apparently, he was in the potions lab or something, and he had a bought of accidental magic and got an experimental potion in his eyes. They managed to save his eyes, but he was forever in need of glasses because the damage to his sight was irreversible. Similar explanations were made in my case."

"Or that your father's condition was made hereditary, and served as a cautionary tale about potion safety or banning the potion before it was able to make changes." Mal said shaking her head understanding.

Harry shrugged, neither confirming or denying her theory as he had absolutely no idea. However, it was a sound theory, even he couldn't refute that.

Seeing that he looked forlorn, Mal decided to change the subject. Hopefully to something with a little humor.

"Hey, not to be racist or anything," Harry's eyebrows quirked at that, understanding that nothing good usually followed that statement, "but later blogs, and a few fanfictions have Hermione has half of the Black family, Bellatrix being her mother, or as a werewolf, or sometimes they even have her as a kitsune," at his confused look at that she explained, "cat ears and a tail with the senses of one because of the Polyjuice potion in your second year." Mal paused for a moment, then met his eyes, "Is any of that even remotely true? I realize that the Black family thing probably isn't, but what about her being a werewolf having been bitten by Remus in 3rd year, or half cat because of the Polyjuice potion?"

"No." Harry laughed, "You're dead on about not being a Black. Bellatrix would have slaughtered Hermione in her crib if she was inferior to the standards of the Death Eaters and Voldemort's. As for the werewolf, and half cat, kitsume-thing, you mentioned, not a chance." Though he stopped and thought about it, remembering something, "I think, if we hadn't immediately gotten Hermione to Pomfrey that night, and waited as she wanted, it would have been a permanent change. However, if that happened, she would have been expelled and sent to the DOM."

"Sorry forward thinkers," Mal mumbled to herself. At his confused look, she shrugged. "People wanted her to be a werewolf or the half cat, so there was a reason for her to advocate for the rights of other "half breeds" or such things." She sighed, and looked at him, "What did she look like, and Ron? Did their actors do them justice? Wait, have you ever seen the movies?"

"Yes," Harry chuckled. "I was curious, and Gabriel indulged me a bit of a break from rebirth. I was left wanting as far as the storyline goes." He took a breath and recalled the people who played the golden trio in the films. "Ron's actor was spot on for the most part. He was taller than me, or at least, bound and weakened me. If my true self had been allowed to emerge, I would have been taller than him. Height and the red hair were about all the actor had going for him. I believe a certain, singer, Ed Sherman or something, comes close to the facial features of the true Ron, but even then, there's still an obvious difference."

"As for Hermione, no, the actress and the real thing were completely different. The first film, go close to the hair, not bushy enough."

"Interjection," Mal raised her hand to pause him. "Have you by chance, seen a music video call Lady Marmalade?"

Harry threw his head back laughing realizing where Mal was going with this, "Yes!" He finally managed. "Yes! Exactly, that's exactly what Hermione's hair was like, but brown instead of blonde."

Mal shook her head, "To have the curse of that kind of hair as a young child, no wonder she had self-image issues."

"Anyway," Harry said getting back to answering her question. "Hermione was tanner than you are. Not really bronzed skin, but close enough."

"Again, sorry forward thinkers." Mal sighed, at yet another quizzical look from Harry, Mal sighed again, "People began to say that she was actually black, or African American."

Harry shook his head, "Nope, she wasn't black. One thing worth mentioning, along with very frizzy, she also had freckles. Far more than Ginny as a matter of fact."

Mal nodded. "Ah," then she looked at him skeptically, "Freckles?"

"Yeah, everywhere." He assured her.

She got the feeling that he didn't want to talk about Hermione anymore, there was a bitterness in his tone that was unmistakable. Like the one, she got when talking about her ex-husband. As much as she wanted to know, and surprisingly, she was able to hold back the prying questions that popped into her head. Maybe it was because of the understanding she had about bad marriages/ breakups. So she abandoned the topic of women around Harry with surprising ease.

She tried to think of something else to talk about, and there was really only one thing she wanted to know more about. "So, what about the other worlds? How do they work? Do you know much about them?"

He scratched the back of his head, wondering how best to explain everything. After all, things such as this were never actually explained, they were read about in books. When people did try to explain it, nothing could come close to the actual description. "I could explain it, but I wouldn't do any of it justice." He gestured to the books, "I suggest you read the books if you get the chance. They go into a lot of detail and explain everything a lot better than I ever could. A lot better than any angel here as a matter of fact, except perhaps the Arch Angels."

"I would love to read them." She looked back at them and sighed. "But, it would be rather rude to read them with you right here. I tend to tune out the world when I read."

He chuckled. "Same here. If it would help encourage you. God, the almighty being wrote them."

She bounced a little with anticipation before sighing. "No, it's better if I don't. If I start, I want won't want to stop, and I'd rather sit and talk with you if that's alright."

His cheeks burned, and he sincerely hoped they weren't red. He only blushed when he was a teenager. "I wouldn't mind that at all."

"So, just a recap," She said holding up a hand, "We're from two separate worlds," he nodded, "and they are just two of many," he nodded again, "Have you ever met God?" She blurted out the question at the end.

He laughed and shook his head. "No, Gabriel said God can only be seen by powerful beings such as the Arch Angels. Regular angels can, but they wouldn't understand a word that God is saying to them. But God rarely shows up among the lower masses. Apparently, Michael is always with God unless he's needed elsewhere, and Gabriel and Lucifer have to go to him at God's temple. God doesn't leave the temple, ever."

"Huh," Mal said then looked around with her hands on her hips. Then she noticed the couch. "Do we have to stand the entire time, or may we sit?"

"Yeah! Sorry!" He said looking at the couch feeling guilty for not having thought of it before. "Why don't we sit down, I think you might like the view. Considering your focus on me and the books, I'm pretty sure you haven't seen it yet, or at all, considering the way Rida sheltered you."

He'd been proven right, the minute she saw the view beyond the window all else was forgotten.

Mal couldn't pull her eyes away and she was vaguely aware of Harry leading her to the couch to sit down. She didn't care at that moment. He could have led her to prison and she wouldn't have noticed with a view like that.

A vast expanse of space that was dominantly midnight blue surprisingly had sections where it faded to pastel blues, pinks, and lavenders in sections. The stars looked like diamonds floating in the sky, they were also big and bright. Not the far away, little dots in the sky one saw on earth. Surprisingly, there were clouds, and in a variety of colors that floated serenely by. Others stayed stationary in one place. What caught her breath when looking at them was that several were spiraling together to form rainbow tornadoes all over the sky.

The stars, planets, and from what she could tell, entire cosmos were doing the same thing. Floating by, stayed in one place, or were spiraling together in an intricate dance she couldn't even begin to understand.

She was captivated, and tears rolled down her cheeks at the beauty of it all.

"How," She croaked, cleared her throat and tried again. "How can you pull yourself away from such a view? I'm not much of an artist, and I'll never remember this view in my mortal lives if things go similar to how they were in past, which is probably a good thing, or I'd have worked tirelessly to recapture this. Though the majesty would be lost somewhere along the line."

"It would be a worthy pursuit." He said softly. "I for one think you could do it."

She laughed bitterly. "If you ever saw my pathetic attempts at art before you wouldn't be saying that."

"Practice makes perfect." He grinned.

She couldn't help but laugh, "Yeah, that's true I suppose."

They sat in silence for an innumerable amount of time, just watching the view before them. Mesmerized by its beauty. Mal never noticed, but Harry would look back and forth between her and the view beyond the window. She was too caught up in the artwork before her to really notice anything else.

"I was once as captivated as you are now." Harry said finally breaking the silence. "I've also wished that I had even an ounce of artistic to attempt to recreate this. But alas, all of my talents lay elsewhere."

"I imagine so." Mal said softly. "Flying was always your talent to my understanding. I'm sure there's more you're great at, but that's the only thing I can think of right now."

Harry chuckled. "Your encouragement is endearing."

"So you've seen this view every time you came here before?"

"Yes." Harry affirmed. "Now I can honestly say that this view is now a close second something else." Harry found himself admitting. Not for the first time he was cursing the fact that this place permitted only truth.

There were loopholes, such as the case with Rida, where she repeated what she believed was true. But it did not echo with ethereal magic that gave the others a sense of trust in Purgatory. He was sure it was this reason that Mal was able to rebel against her, and not believe the religious clout that her family in the mortal world quoted.

Whereas his words just now, echoed the truth of his heart. Something he had long since buried and thought was dead because of the events in his various lives.

Mal shook her head, feeling foolish for staring absent mindedly for so long. "I'm sorry for being so distracted. It's rude to ignore a person right in front of you. At least that what I was always taught growing up, in all of my lives." She looked at him and smile brightly. "Tell me about your lives, what was magic like? How does it compare to being a muggle?"

Harry looked at her amused. Surprised that his slip of the tongue went unnoticed by her. She was as lost about romantic advances as he was? Is that why she didn't notice? Or was she not feeling the same as him? Couldn't be the last one, at least he hoped not, she did ask about his lives. Knowing there were more than one. Did he ever mention there was more than one?

Before he could answer her questions, a mortified look came across her face, and she scooted back a bit waving her hands vigorously.

"I am so sorry!" She explained, her low tone matching her expression.

This, confused him a great deal. Not that he could lie in this place anyway, not even in his own mind. Could it be she asked what was in her heart as he had? Said the first thing that came to mind as he had?

"I tend to ask things without thinking." She said quickly, babbling to cover up the mistake that she made. She couldn't believe she had asked that! That was the height of rudeness on her part. Even in the canon books, Harry Potter didn't like nosy people and she was being nosy! God, she hoped he didn't hate her. "It's a problem, and I've been working on it. I thought I had gotten the hang of it in life, but it appears in this place that's not the case! Why I did blurt that out like that!? That's not like me."

"We can't lie in this place." He said candidly. "More than once I wanted to tell Gabriel and the others "I was fine" when in fact I wasn't, what ended up coming out was something along the lines of I wasn't fine, but that didn't fucking matter, I wanted to be left alone."

"Sounds like something I would say regardless of being forced to say the truth. And have on occasion." Mal giggled. "I knew about the truth thing, I figured that out while being Rida's charge. Still, even here I was able to curb blurting out what I was truly thinking and feeling. I wonder if not being around her anymore, feeling safe has affected that ability I gained."

"It's possible." Harry concluded. "This place is designed for souls to feel safe, and express what they think and feel. Vent it all before going back to the next life as it were so they can live with relative peace in their souls."

Mal looked away for a moment lost in thought. "I wonder if that's why depression is so bad in my world. Because of what Rida did, combined with souls not venting, or being unable too, they go back to their mortal shells carrying their previous lives pain and anger."

That was actually an excellent theory he mused. He knew of the world she came from, as that's the world that had the books, movies, and various other things that carried his name and was a worldwide favorite. Rida's manipulations would certainly have contributed to its state. Because souls had to repeat their lives until they got it right, just like him, and just like Mal was being forced to, even if it had been wrong. Widespread depression would be the least of the problems contaminating that world. He knew of depression sure, but comparing his world to hers, depression didn't afflict people in his world as it did hers.

It was one of the things he'd looked into while waiting here after some of his lives before. He'd like to think it was his research that led to Gabriel and the others investigating that world and the guardians for that world's souls. Which led to the discovery of Rida's wrongdoings. However, as of this moment, there was really no way to know for sure. He'd likely forget to ask anyway.

Harry found himself looking back at Mal, who was once again staring out the window and was completely captivated by her. He wondered if she noticed the midnight purple she had dyed her hair slowly faded, and in its place was a hair color different than he'd ever seen before. Three different colors grew from her head, all mixed together as it wasn't sections that were different colors, but rather the individual strands. One, was a darker red than the Weasley families, an umber brown, and a shade of black deeper than his own. Ebony he thought the color was.

Genetics was a funny thing, he mused. She wasn't the first person he'd come across with different colors in the hair strands, however, she was the first to sport three different colors in them.

Her hair was still thick, with waves and ring curls at the end. Ginny, he remembered, did everything she could to get the waves or curls Mal sported naturally, whereas Hermione attempted to tame the bushy nature of her hair, making it look thick instead of bushy. How ironic that he'd be attracted to a mix of what Ginny and Hermione tried to achieve individually.

Still, they didn't come close to the beauty before him. Mal looked like a warrior princess in the loose shirt and tight pants she was wearing. The black leather style jacket and shin high tight boots didn't help matters with that image.

He thought about all of the other women he'd ever met. Even the Veela he'd seen and spoken to. How was it, that none of them, had him reacting to them the way he was now with her. To make matters worse, or better, depending on how one looked at it, the more they talked and were around each other, the stronger his feelings became.

By Mother Magic, he wanted to strip her down and taste every inch of her. He quickly turned his thoughts away from that line of thinking before he said something like that out loud. Though considering she worked as an exotic dancer, it would probably be something she'd heard before, and he didn't want to sound like those men from her world. Like, all he wanted from her was her body. Not when it was the soul and everything that came with it that he wanted.

Changing his thoughts, he admitted to himself he was more than a little shocked by her trusting nature. Even people back in his own world had a hard time trusting him right off the bat. Even Luna, and she was the most open-hearted person he'd ever met. They wanted the "Boy-Who-Lived", not Harry. And when he was around them, they didn't know if they could trust him, because they didn't know who he was. The "Boy-Who-Lived, Gryffindor Golden Boy, Dumbledore's Boy", was who they saw, and many didn't trust him because of that alone.

No one had ever trusted him so absolutely and followed willingly as she did when she left that room with him. Even after learning who he was, that didn't change. She didn't see the any of that crap. She saw Harry, a boy who suffered, a man who died because of that life. It was only natural she'd be curious about him. The real him, and want to know the truth as it was to him.

More than that, he as happy about it! He didn't question it, he welcomed it. He felt like if she refused him back in that room when Tarnok suggested she come with him, he would have begged her to do as Tarnok said. He could try to convince himself it was because he didn't want her to be left alone in that room. But in his heart, he knew that wasn't the case, and she wouldn't have been left alone. She probably would have been surrounded by the black wings, and that left him feeling jealous. Odd, but in an exciting way. He never felt this way. Not in any of his mortal lives.

He found her eagerness to learn, about Purgatory, the angels, and him, endearing. She wasn't pushing about it, demanding as he knew certain women had been in his lives. Ordering and demanding information even when they had no right to, or no business knowing what they were asking about. Mal had been calm, and patient. Which he greatly appreciated and adored about her.

He knew her questions were inevitable, hell he had a whole list of his own, and he wondered how they would come out. He expected them and spent the time while looking at the space beyond them pondering on how he would answer, when he wasn't staring at her, and when his eyes didn't fall to her chest. For the first time in his soul's existence, his mind went blank when staring a girl's chest. His teenage years didn't count, that was natural, and it was rare to see a developed chest at Hogwarts because their robes were not flattering.

He enjoyed breasts, and he looked at them, he was male after all. But Mal's were the biggest he'd ever seen, and he'd seen Susan's double-D's back in Hogwarts when he'd walked in on her and Neville naked in the greenhouse once. Mal's was creamy white from the cleavage he could see peeking through her shirt. He'd also seen a bit more than that when he watched her dance.

Again, he had to force himself to look back at her eyes. Looking at her eyes, he could easily forget about her body and that it made him ache for his mortal form back. Those ice blue jewels made him think he could stare into them forever and never get bored.

Looking at her now, hearing her apologize, he never expected that when she'd ask about him, she'd immediately backpedal and apologize for asking about his life. Asking about him and questions that anyone in her place would be asking. Probably more forcefully and with a higher amount.

He had no doubt he would have answered her questions regardless because she asked them. He was surprised that he wanted her to know about him, he wanted her to know everything, he didn't want secrets from her. Again, odd, but exciting at the same time. He wanted her to know about him, and he wanted to know about her.

Thus far, both in the mortal realm and the afterlife, she was the only person to inquire about his past and then withdrew. The fact she did it affect of immediately was astonishing. Everyone else had to be dragged away from him by Gabriel or Satan.

At that moment, he was resolved to answer all of her questions, but, for a price.

He gently took hold of her chin and tilted her head up so she was looking at him. "I'll tell you about me, all of it."

"If?" She prompted nervously. She might be naive at times, but she wasn't stupid, she thought to herself as she stared up into the emerald green eyes that seemed to glow slightly.

Whether in amusement or power, she wasn't sure.

He chuckled and grinned. "If you tell me about you. We can ask our mutual questions along the way. What do you say?"

She cringed but nodded. "Yeah, sounds fair."

He already knew that her lives were riddled with abuse as his had been. But he wondered to just what extent. Considering she agreed, he knew he was going to find out, and he had a sick feeling in his stomach, that he wasn't going to like it.

Mal still looking in his eyes, could see the pain in them, and she wondered just how bad his own life or lives had been. The canon of Harry Potter implied a lot, but the fanfiction went into a lot of detail. She wondered if there was a mix between the two, or if it was something else that she'd never even thought of.

"So where do we begin?" She asked softly.

Harry sighed as he released her and sat back. "I guess, we start with our deaths. Going from the first to the end, and our lives leading up to that point."

She nodded, "Makes sense. So, who goes first?"

 **}TLCW{**

AN:

Updated on 4/27/19


	5. Chapter 5: Tell Tale Part One

True Love Crossing Worlds

 _ **WARNING:**_ _This chapter and the next will feature traumatizing content. This chapter and the next will feature Mal and Harry divulging all about their pasts. From how they grew up to how they died nine different times._

 _The chapters will also be severely dialogue heavy. I promise this won't happen all of the time. Can't say it won't happen again, because I don't really know._

 _For those who are_ _ **sensitive**_ _or easily_ _ **triggered**_ _,_ _ **these chapters**_ _you might want to_ _ **skip them**_ _. They will briefly be touched upon later on, not all of what was said, just that they learn everything there is to know about each other's pasts. All that you need to know, for those who don't want the nitty-gritty details, is that they talk about how their lives were, more specifically, how they died the nine times before._

 _Also, I_ _ **apologize**_ _to those who are religious. I have nothing against religion, but I do recognize that certain people use this as a means to gain power and control of the masses as they hurt and torture people. Such as certain cults, and others throughout History._

 _ **Spoiler**_ _: Mal was raised in such an environment, and there will be situations where religion is used as a weapon or as an excuse for their actions. Again, I apologize, but for the purposes of this story, I thought it fit._

 _So again,_ _ **traumatizing content ahead**_ _,_ _tread carefully_ _and thanks for returning._

 **}TLCW{**

" _So where do we begin?" She asked softly._

 _Harry sighed as he released her and sat back. "I guess, we start with our previous lives, and talk about our deaths. Going from the first to the end, and our lives leading up to that point."_

 _She nodded, "Makes sense. So, who goes first?"_

Well, Harry made this deal, he supposed, it would only be fair if he started the ball rolling. "I guess I can go first."

"Before you start," Mal said raising a hand to stall him, "why such a dreary subject, wouldn't you like to know about my hobbies and such?"

He chuckled, "Yes, but we can learn about that any time, can't we?"

She gave a bob of her head as agreement. "It does seem a very mortal troupe. We're certainly not mortal right now."

"That we aren't." He nodded.

"I think I can see your point." She said after thinking about it for a moment. "Is there another reason for this, for this, purge?" She tested the word as she spoke it, then nodded in affirmation that's the word she wanted to use. "Why are we purging about our lives?"

"We're supposed to purge before we go onto the next life. Something I've been neglecting to do, and I've been chewed out for it more than once. I know, one of the conditions, if I do get what I want this time around, is that I will have to purge all of it." He sighed. Then fixed her with a knowing look, "I take it you haven't purged out your grievances or even talked about your previous deaths with anyone?"

Mal shook her head. "Rida didn't see the purpose of going over "my failures". She said to get over the wrongs and do the right thing. I wasn't even aware of this until you said it."

"Figures." Harry scowled. "For me, I just didn't see the point."

"That was a lie." Mal said in a soft knowing tone.

"Not a lie, but not all of the truth." He agreed, "I'm reluctant."

"I assure you, this won't be easy for me either." Mal assured him. Hence the reason she was doing everything she could think of to stall storytime.

Harry chuckled. "Then I think it's only fair since I'm asking you to tell all, that I do the same. Since I have to eventually anyway, I would rather it be with you. And I learn about you in the process, win-win."

He said sitting back. "To that end, as I said, I can go first, my first death happened fairly early on and it's a pretty quick story to tell."

Mal nodded and sat back getting comfortable. Even if he said it was short, she didn't want to be on the edge of her seat looking impatient. After all, with the still lack of angels, she had a feeling they were going to be here for quite some time. Though, before Harry began talking, she wondered if that was the point of this?

"My first death," Harry said slowly, "happened, as I'm sure you can imagine, that first time I faced Voldemort."

"The end of your first year?" Mal was very confused. How much more had the canon gotten wrong. "I thought Quirrel couldn't touch you."

"Not then." He shook his head. "October 31st, 1981."

She looked shocked, but otherwise, let him talk.

"As you can imagine he cast the famous killing curse at me." He explained, "However, he cast it as the first in a spell chain." He looked at her worried, "Do you know what that is?"

She nodded. "Two or more spells cast simultaneously after the other in quick concession, where one spells wand movements end, the other begins, to weaken an opponent."

"Very good." He nodded. "However, as you can imagine, with Voldemort at the wand, it was meant for deadly purposes, he wanted to ensure that I was dead, and stayed dead."

"Makes sense." She said softly.

"The spell chain went the killing curse, the cutting curse, and Fiendfyre." Harry explained holding up his fingers as he listed them off. "So while my mother's sacrifice did help the Killing curse rebound onto him, the cutting curse, as well as Fiendfyre, hit home."

Mal's tears fell, they weren't many, but they fell nonetheless. "The fanfictions," She gulped back the lump that was in her throat and tried again. "Since the canon wasn't clear about your mother's sacrifice, the fanfictions, and fan theories are that your mother dabbled in sacrificial magic so that in giving her life for you, you would be spared. One of my favorites had you immune to all mind magic, and that's basically what the killing curse is. It wipes the brain clean of all functions, even those automated ones that keep the body running." She met his eyes, "May I ask if that's the case with what actually happened?"

Harry grinned at her amused. "That I was immune or my mother practicing sacrificial magic?"

Mal wiped her tears and smiled inspite of herself. "The sacrificial part, obviously you wouldn't have been immune."

Harry couldn't help but admire her candidness. "Yes, my mother did perform a ritual based on self-sacrifice. In a way, Dumbledore was right that it was my mother's love that saved me, as she would have to have deeply loved me and died willingly in my place for the ritual to work, but he was wrong about the specifics." Harry's face and tone took on a dark undercurrent. "Not that the old wanker was one to shell out specifics."

For a moment, he worried that Mal would become afraid of him, but instead, she bobbed her head before nodding. "Yeah, the fanfictions are not nice to him at all." Her voice took on a morose tone as she added, "If I could have been there, I would have helped you as much as I could have. Rules of time and space be damned."

He had to bite his tongue to keep from saying he would have loved to have her there. If that confession came out, he knew everything else he was thinking and feeling would follow that one out.

Mal grew rather self-conscious, though she knew there was no logical reason to feel this way. She didn't know why talking about her own lives and deaths made her feel like this. So far Harry had been open and honest with her, and she knew, at least to some extent, of the abuse he suffered later on in his life. While his were different from her own, if anyone could understand her past lives, it was Harry Potter.

She took a deep breath. "Well, there's no beating around the bush, I was abused." She said avoiding his emerald eyes. "A great deal. As I'm sure Tarnok may have mentioned."

"He did." Harry said softly but otherwise kept silent so she could continue.

"There's a lot leading up to my first death," She said softly, looking at him now, "it will be a little bit before I get to how I died. I need to lay the groundwork for the specifics of how I died, as I'm sure you're wanting."

He nodded. "That is what I want, and I can assure you my first death was the most peaceful of them all in the fact that that's the only I don't remember. My second death will more than make up for however long this may take." He inclined his head. "So too will a few more of my lives and deaths."

"Okay, and thankfully, as I said, explaining this will lay the groundwork for all of my other lives and deaths." She sighed and began talking with great difficulty. Doing her best to not look at Harry as she began. "I never told anyone about my true history. As you can imagine, Rida wasn't much of a talker when I got here, other than to insult me and usher me onto my next life. I'm not sure how I'm going to get through this."

"As I said before, I've never told anyone the full truth about my past." He admitted in the same grave tone she used. "What I could remember anyway. Only the Arch Angels and God know the full story of my life Mal." He smiled softly at her, "At the end of this, you will be the only mortal soul who will know the true me."

"Thank you for trusting me." She returned his smile. "And thank you for humoring me in my stalling this and not rushing me forward."

He took her hand and held it softly. "Oh, I have a feeling I'll be in the same position you are in soon enough."

His hand was cool and comforting as he held her own. She hoped he didn't mind if she didn't let go. She didn't want to let go. For the first time in her existence, she wasn't waiting for the respectable time limit before letting go and avoiding contact, (As had been her training to the point of instinct growing up) or worried that he wouldn't want to hold her hand. In the past, she would let go and "not cling" as her husband had often accused her of doing. Harry held on and didn't show any sign of letting go, and she didn't want him to, and she had no intention of letting his hand go if he wasn't going to pull back.

She decided it was best to not think about it. After all, it wasn't like anything was going to come of this. When this was all over, and she'd say her piece in the upcoming meeting with Gabriel, then she would be ushered off back to her own world, and Harry would be going back to his own. Right?

"I think," She began softly, then continued with more volume. "I think the best place to begin, is before I was born." When she looked at him cautiously, he nodded for her to continue with his blessing, so she plunged forward unabashed. "My maternal side of my family belonged to a reclusive sect, almost a cult. They claimed themselves to be Catholics, but they were far too extreme and I don't think the Catholic Church and Monarch even recognized them. Even so, they claimed to practice Catholicism. They were extremely devoted and brutal to any who disobeyed the rules and were caught. Both Biblical and the Home. They were deadly to anything they viewed as an abnormality and they isolated themselves from those who were not of the Faith. Men were mostly safe, but the women were tortured beyond imagination."

Harry cringed, "Sounds almost like the Salem Witch Trials with the Puritans."

A grave look came over Mal's face that Harry did not like.

"You're not that far off." She said softly.

"My mother, Lauren, was one of fifteen children born to my grandmother." Mal explained, sounding as if she was detached and reading from a lecture. She sounded apathetic to Harry, and in truth she was, she did her best to feel as little emotion as possible so as to get through this. "As such, she grew up neglected, abused, and was as brainwashed, sorry, devoted, as any other member of her family."

Harry couldn't help but chuckle at her slip up there.

"As all of the daughters in her family were taught growing up, my mother knew her future was either in a nunnery or to be married with lots of children." Mal said with a bit of disgust. While she had no problem being a stay at home wife and mother, being told that was all you were good for because you were a woman was wrong in her opinion. "As Lauren was not the type to sit still for long, be it in prayer or silent contemplation, it was a well-known fact among the family and masses she was to be another loyal, complacent wife and breeder to the man she married."

Harry shook his head in disgust of his own. "Sounds like a certain loudmouth redhead matriarch I know."

Mal nodded, knowing to whom he was referring. "But things changed for the worse when my mother started her menses."

"And things hadn't already?" Harry asked incredulously.

Mal bobbed her in concession, but otherwise made no comment on his remark as she continued. "My mother woke up in a large pool of blood when she was about fifteen. The sect had begun to worry that she wouldn't develop a menses."

"Why would they worry about that?" He asked. "By their overly religious logic wouldn't that mean that your mother would have been pure in their eyes?"

Mal shook her head. "It would mean that she was sick and unworthy of children as they had already determined she wasn't fit for a life of service to God. Women like that either disappeared or committed suicide. Though thinking back now I wonder how many of those suicides were actually just that or something else."

Harry really had no comment for that.

"The sect had gotten in trouble before when it came to exorcizing demons out of a girl who started her period in such a manner, or when she didn't develop one within their time frame. Even more so when the authorities realized they never sought medical attention for the girls. So, reluctantly, my grandparents brought my mother to a gynecologist who diagnosed my mother Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, or PCOS for short."

Harry held up a hand to stop her and looked at her confused. "What the bloody hell is that? I've never heard of that before."

"No, I imagine you wouldn't have. Rida made a passing comment that it was a shame that this affliction only existed in my world." Mal smiled remorsefully. "Among the many symptoms are, along with cysts on the ovaries, that it causes irregular periods, heavy bleeding, it has been known to cause diabetes to the woman, but the part that is important to the story is that it makes it difficult to have children. There is a whole lot more that I'm not even touching on, but we'll leave that alone for now.

"Some women, with the help of certain treatments manage to conceive a child or two. Some women who suffer from it, as my mother did, later on, manage to conceive with little effort. Just have very painful periods. In extreme cases, such as my own, the woman can bleed for a year, stop for a month, then start it all over again. And we're not talking light bleeding either. We're talking about going through a box of super plus tampons and thick mattress pads in under a week, along with the painful cramps that make it so you can't move, and other things I won't get into. Anyway, I had to have a hysterectomy just to live a normal life. It was during this time, and using it as the excuse, that my husband cheated on me."

"Tarnok mention that." Harry growled. "He couldn't wait till you were healed, did he even try to help you!?"

Mal shook her head. "I suffered from this for years. It took three years before I found a doctor that took my situation seriously enough to help me. My ex wouldn't have sex with me if I was bleeding, so I had to please him in other ways, and apparently, I wasn't as good as others he'd had in the past." She sighed. "By the time the surgery was done it had been a couple of months since I'd given him any relief. Then we were told no sex for eight to ten weeks, and he just kind of lost it." She took a breath and stared out the window to beat down the feelings of betrayal and heartache that came creeping in. "While I had suspected affairs before, I had no way of knowing pedophilic tendencies."

"Why do you say that?" He asked curiously.

"Because he cheated on, and later left me for a teenage girl who was about half, maybe three fourths his height and flatter than a board." Mal explained looking him in eyes. "That also wasn't the only teenage he slept with. Apparently, he slept with her whole group of friends before landing on her and staying with her."

If it hadn't been for Mal's slight smirk when she said that, Harry wouldn't have laughed a bit at that. As it was, she grinned a little as he laughed.

"Anyway," Mal said adopting her apathetic persona again. "Lauren did develop diabetes due to the PCOS at seventeen/ eighteen, I'm not sure which. Whether due to the PCOS, the brainwashing/ abuse, or both combined, she was both physically and mentally sick. This I can say with certainty; as she had very bad reactions whenever she was given bad news, which was pretty much always. She was warned by the doctors at this point that she shouldn't have children, as it would cause her health, in all aspects, to greatly diminish. Not to mention what harm to could do to the babies."

"How did you find all this out?" Harry finally asked, unable to hold the question back any longer. "I doubt very much your family would have told you any of this."

"Oh, they didn't." She assured him. "When things they don't agree with happens, they either pretend it didn't happen or consider it blasphemy. So obviously, they never spoke about the truth of my mother's ailments or health." Mal shook her head in disgust. "My good doctor found out about all of this during the third round of my one-year period in my last life. He found my mother's original doctors, and they broke patient confidentiality to tell me. They felt my health and my need to make an informed decision was more important than protecting my mother's "shame" I guess you could say.

"It was from there I decided what to do. My ex, he didn't seem to care, contrary to his parent's belief, he wasn't as devoted as they were, and neither was I, which is why we got along so well in the beginning. We married because I thought I loved him, and our families were pushing us to." Mal shook her head with a sigh. "When I came clean to my family about what I did for my health, I never mentioned that bit about the doctors because I swore to them that I wouldn't betray their trust." She shrugged. "But seeing's as I'm dead, this knowledge can't hurt them now."

Harry nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, when I brought up the truth to my family, and how it was affecting me, I was beaten for it." Before Harry could react, even having known this before, she shrugged again and moved on, "Since my lives seem to be on repeat, the same one over and over, just a few changes along the way, namely how I died, I figured it was the same in each life, and just applied the knowledge where it was needed."

Harry squeezed her hand in comfort but said nothing aloud. Thinking he wished he could have been there for her after finding out such terrible news. Wishing he could have killed her family for treating her that way. Though, if he was feeling this now, he wondered just how badly he would wish to do that later on?

"My mother was sent to a nunnery, why I don't know, but that didn't work, it was from there she went to college. After one year, she came home engaged to Terry." Mal curled up slightly as she talked. "Despite the fact that he was an outsider, they rejoiced. Since all other options failed, and by that, I'm assuming repentance through God or something like that, and no man in the sect wanted to marry damaged goods, they figured that Terry would be the answer to their prayers."

Harry couldn't but snort, and Mal nodded, "Quite right. I heard that a lot before my stepfather's praises were sung. They would say that Terry was their hope, but it failed, my stepfather, however, he was the answer, Terry was just a stepping stone."

Harry noticed the tone she took when talking about her stepfather. "What about your stepfather?"

Knowing he caught onto her hostile tone, Mal put a finger to her lips, "Patience, I'm getting there."

"Now, no one told me this," Mal said with a wave of her hand, "This is, merely my own theories, but I suspect that Lauren and her family told Terry that she "couldn't have children". While I did later have a chance to ask this, I never did, so like I said theories." She sighed. "Still, Terry married her anyway, as everyone had hoped. He wasn't devoted like them, asked questions they didn't like, basically pointing out the inconsistencies and questioning their hypocrisy, he didn't fall in line like he was supposed to. When they couldn't control him, and realizing such a thing was futile, they tried another method."

"They began belittling him." Harry said knowing all too well how that went.

Mal nodded. "It had been my father's idea to adopt a child. My mother so wanted children, but believing they couldn't have any physically, he offered this alternative. The whole family and church were straight up against this."

"Why!?" Harry asked appalled.

"Because children were God's gift and punishment in their eyes." Mal explained. "According to them, when God cast Adam and Eve out of Eden, he told them to go forth and multiply. He meant this as a punishment, but it was also their path for redemption. Children of the sect were raised with this drilled into their heads. We were punished for the sin committed by Eve, which is why we are baptized, and we girls have to have as many children as our husband demand because it's the only way we can save our souls and our husband can be redeemed so we may enter the gates of heaven."

Harry shuddered and shook his head. "I am so sorry that you had to grow up with that."

Mal shrugged. "As Tarnok said, I never believed it. I never knew why, but I always felt that it was wrong."

"Thank God for that." Harry muttered.

"Miraculously, my parents got Andrew." Mal smiled softly remembering. "A newborn whose parents were killed in a car accident the day they were bringing him home from the hospital. The family and church accepted him then. It had "obviously" been a sign from God."

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose. "Your family was all kinds of jacked up."

"Oh, just wait," Mal laughed darkly. "It gets "better"."

"Oh goody." Was his dry response.

"Andrew was two when Lauren got pregnant with me." Mal explained after a sigh. "While Terry was euphoric, no one else, other than Lauren of course, rejoiced. They varied from smug "ha! Told you so" to "it was expected". It became increasingly clear to my father he'd been lied to, by everyone, especially my mother. He'd been unaware of her diabetes until she was pregnant and the doctors told him it was imperative she follow the rules and adheres to the limits or things would be worse. The joy and pleased reactions didn't last long as Lauren got really sick and almost died delivering me respectively. After I was born, Terry wanted Lauren to get her tubes tied so she could live a long, moderately healthy life with him and their babies. Naturally, he was met with Lauren's violent reaction against it, as well as the family and church's screaming fit against it.

"In their eyes, he was not only slapping their traditions in the face, but he was also basically cutting off her only means of salvation. He was being selfish, and stupid. She could have children, she was raised that she not only should but had to. His "radical thinking" of following the doctor's orders and believing in science was not welcome among the sect. By not allowing Lauren to have children, he was basically robbing her of her purpose in life, and if she couldn't have children, and she couldn't/ wouldn't devote herself to the services of God, then she was worthless and needed to be culled before others began to think they didn't need to follow the sect's rules."

"That's what they told you." Harry said softly, looking at her with a new understanding. "The day you came clean about your health and what you did to ensure you lived a healthy life as best you could."

Mal nodded. "But back to my father; it was this "event" that put the final nail in the coffin for Terry. The family began to trash talk him behind his back more so than before, and before long, right to his face. Shortly thereafter, the church got involved, and things spiraled out of control from there. Any fight they had, the family and church would know about it and back Lauren. Anything Terry said in confidence to Lauren was not kept and soon everyone knew. The divorce was inevitable, and while usually, the sect would exile the couple for such a travesty, the church allowed this divorce. They granted an exception for Terry and Lauren. Terry was not someone they could control, and he needed to go before he caused even more chaos. He wasn't an official member of the sect so that was alright.

"When it went to court, no one was there to back Terry and speak on his behalf. All of his family was gone, and it was this community of "upstanding citizens" against him. The sect claimed that he was a mean drunk and beat on Lauren and the babies. They provided evidence apparently, what I don't know, but it was passed in Lauren's favor. While Terry's life wasn't ruined, it was forever changed. He was arrested and spent a few years in prison for "his crimes". He moved to the west coast after he got out and never returned. I emailed with him back and forth for a little while after my husband left me, and that's how I got some more of my mother's history and my theories."

"At least you got to know him a little." Harry said sympathetically.

Mal shrugged. "He stopped responding after I told him I was a stripper. Though now I suspect Rida may have had something to do with that."

Harry knew what she wasn't saying, "at least she hoped so." Unable to help it, he moved in closer, wrapped his arm around and pulled her close. Soon her head was rested against his chest and his chin upon her head. Surprising, she didn't resist him.

"I'm sure that's the case." He said softly, running his hand up and down her back.

It was a trick that his wives had coached him on when they wanted comfort. It had been automatic in the past, fueled by the training and potions they gave him. This, was deliberate, his choice. He wanted to hold her, even before hearing about her past. Now, he did it because he realized she had so little of genuine comfort as he had.

"Now," He said pulling back and fixing her with a playful glare. "You owe me a death."

Mal couldn't help but giggle at his teasing tone. He had actually let her talk and tell her story in her own time. She was surprised by his move to hold her and keep her close and comfort her, but she didn't have any complaints.

"Shush." She patted his chest. "Soon, getting close." She settled against his chest as he didn't seem to want to let her go and if she was being honest, she didn't want him to let her go. "Back to life in the sect, with Terry arrested and the divorce finalized, with two babies, and no help, because of course, Lauren didn't have a job, as her work was at the house with the babies, she lost the house she was living in with Terry. She moved back in with her parents so she had some support, and it was during this time, that men from the sect finally began to show interest in her."

"Because now she had proven she could have children." Harry rightfully concluded.

Mal nodded. "While Lauren was unaware that her "dates" were all set up by the Priest and her parents, everyone else was fully in the know and made no secret of it in the future. They even offered suggestions about candidates and their qualities. Course, even if Lauren had known she wouldn't have cared, but after her marriage to Terry, the sect thought it best that they play it safe, and set her up with their choice of husband for without her knowledge. Just in case she rebelled.

"So when Lauren was regularly dating and ultimately got engaged to a fellow sect member ten years her senior, Arnold Higgins, no one was surprised. Rather than rejoice, they all breathed a sigh of relief. Lauren was finally tied to a man of their faith, she had children, and was soon to have more. Arnold Higgins, whose first wife passed away without giving him children, was soon married to Lauren. Now he had a wife to take care of his home, and children that would see him redeemed and secure his place in Heaven. Lauren finally had everything everyone ever wanted for her. A handsome, "loving", husband to provide for her, children of her own, and best of all, it was within the approval of the sect. She never had to leave the community again."

Mal sighed, "However as she had been warned, with each child she had, Lauren got sicker and sicker. But the church, family, and especially Arnold expected her to have children and to please her husband whenever he demanded it. Which was often." Mal shuddered as she remembered. "I know that both from memory, and from how many kids' mom had after she married Arnold. Eight more by the time I was ten. Eight! It seemed right after she had one kid, she was expected to have another right away. Which was the case with most of the families in the sect. It was rare for a family to have less than six kids before "God deemed the woman should stop"."

Harry looked at her confused and she shrugged. "Basically, the woman couldn't get pregnant anymore no matter how much the men tried, or menopause happened. It was like a competition for them. Didn't matter what accomplishments their children had, or how they looked, what matter was the number of children the men had."

Harry shook his head. And he thought the Dursley's and the other people of Privet Drive, or the extended town of Surrey were bad. He probably would have turned out just as bad as Tommy boy if he had grown up like Mal had. Course, from what he was hearing, he probably would have been dead long before he was even able to attend primary school let alone Hogwarts.

"So, what happened with your stepfather and mother?" He finally asked realizing she'd gone quiet during his contemplation.

"After the eighth baby, mom found herself in the same boat as me." Mal said softly, her head still resting against his chest so she wouldn't have to look him in the eyes. "She had to have a hysterectomy. After my baby brother was born, there was a tear in the uterine wall, they couldn't stop the bleeding and it just got worse and worse, and her uterus was too worn to be successfully repaired. To save her life, they had no choice but to do that. The sect and Arnold were not given the choice, because no one was there, Arnold had work and the other kids to look after. A woman was expected to look after herself, especially when she was in labor. So the doctors had to make a decision then and there. By the time everyone found out, they had to grit their teeth and give thanks, but only to keep the doctors and police out of the sect's business."

She swallowed back tears, knowing she had to get through this next part. She had to explain it so the groundwork was finished for the rest of her lives. "Neither Andrew or I remembered Terry, the only father we ever knew was Arnold. Though he never failed to refer to us as the bastard children of the outsider our mother was forced to bear and take into her home. To the outside world, Arnold seemed like the dream man; loving husband, handsome, devoted father, and an all-around good guy. At home, he was anything but.

"Arnold was hot and quick-tempered. He yelled at everyone equally. His solution to a problem was to hid hard, hit them all, and that would be the end of it." Mal gulped and ended up gagging before she could continue. "Added to that, he had a ferocious sexual appetite. If he wasn't at work or doing the seasonal yard work, he was in bed with my mother. Leaving the oldest female, me, to take care of things while they were busy doing "God's work", as Arnold coined it. I was treated no different than his biological children most of the time, but Andrew, Arnold merely tolerated. Any excuse Arnold got to wail on him, Arnold took it."

"Did he beat you?" Harry asked in a low voice. Surprised that his desire to kill the man in the worst possible way didn't show in his voice.

"He beat all of us." Mal said candidly. "One of the things the church, the families, especially Arnold, expected was for the children to behave like perfect little adults. Three-year old's were expected to have the maturity of a teenager. When it came to school, they had to have 4.0 averages. Anything less than that would see a child severely punished. For some parents, it was heavy chores, for others it was leaving them outside no matter the weather till they learned their lesson, for the rest it was beating till the lesson was driven home. Added to that, in Arnold's house, I don't know about the others, but I imagine it would be similar given the sect's upbringing, as the oldest daughter I was expected to do all of that, as well as cook, clean, and take care of the children from a young age. I was shown how to do something once, and then I had to do it by myself."

Mal's eyes were watering remembering her past, while Harry was having to bite his tongue to keeps from shaking with rage. He was grateful this place healed any damage quickly, or his tongue would be in pieces.

"How bad was it?" He finally asked since she'd fallen silent.

She looked up at him and found the rage burning in those emerald green eyes. "I thought you wanted my first death?"

"Not at the expense of knowing what came before." He shook his head. "I can sense that you're glossing over certain details in the attempt to hurry along to your first death, and I don't want that. You tell all, and I'll do the same."

"It's not a good story." Mal mumbled.

"Neither are my lives." He argued back softly.

"Fair enough." Mal sighed.

She did want to know about him, if he was willing to share, she didn't expect he would agree to tell her everything if she agreed to do the same. In the end, she thought, if nothing else, this would be a good purge, something she never had the chance to do before, like he had pointed out, and it's not like either was going to remember any of this anyway. She was positive this meeting would be forced to be forgotten. While that gave her comfort when it came to him knowing her story, it hurt a little that she wouldn't remember his. She thought at least one person deserved to know the real Harry Potter. Even if she wasn't worthy of the honor. After all, he saves a whole world, she took off her clothes for a living.

"The earliest memory I have of all of my lives, and it's consistent throughout each one, is being pulled up off the floor by Arnold by my hair and being tossed into my room. In my first life, I shared it with Andrew for a little while, before the door was closed and locked from outside. Arnold would come in a few more times and smack us both around because we were crying too loudly and "spoiling" the mood. I hid in the closet with Andrew. Now Arnold never hit hard enough to bruise, I'll give him that. We never had broken bones or black eyes, so there was never any proof that we were being beaten. We tried to tell people what happened, but what we didn't understand was everyone in the sect was of the same mind fame, and they always defended Arnold. They would tell him what we said, and Andrew and I were later "punished" for "telling lies".

"One of the rules of the house was, "what happens in this house; stays in this house." Wasn't until I was older that I realized this was a classic abuser technique to keep the victims quiet. Some people who use this technique don't think they're doing anything wrong, but if the kids say something to the "wrong person", it could paint the "perfect parent" in a bad light."

Harry nodded, "I can understand that. There were a few people who had tried to help me in the muggle world when it came to the Dursley's abuse. However, Dumbledore made them forget, or something, I'm not sure which."

"In the fanfictions, he made them forget because he needed his weapon weak and mailable." Mal said automatically.

Harry nodded again. "Sounds about right." Then he shook those thoughts off, this wasn't his turn, this was hers. "Anyway, you were saying?"

"Pretty much, no matter what he did, Arnold thought himself a saint and the perfect father, he could do no wrong, and others thought the same. He was a pillar of the community, and active in a lot of areas. You needed help with something, Arnold was your man for the job. In the end, he didn't have as many kids as some of the other men, but he was considered among the best the sect had to offer." Mal explained.

"He sounds similar to how Vernon saw himself." Harry mused. "Though in reality Vernon never put any effort into lending a hand towards others. If a person wanted help, he directed them back to their own property or told them to hire help. He wasn't a service worker."

"How can a walrus ever see themselves a pillar of the community?" Mal snorted.

Harry threw his head back and laughed till there were tears in his eyes. "Oh, that was a good one, I hope I remember, at least in some fashion, to call Vernon that at least once!"

Mal grinned at him. "Happy to oblige."

Harry tapped her shoulder in a mock slap while using his other hand to wipe his eyes clear. "Alright, enough stalling, please continue."

"That's pretty much it." Mal said with a surprised look. "That paints what my daily life was like growing up. Though added to that once the siblings came, nothing was sacred. I loved it, they took it. They would get in trouble just to see me punished because I was supposed to stop it in Arnold's mind. Didn't matter that I was six, helping mama cook dinner, or doing my homework on the next floor; I should have known, I should have stopped it. Course it backfired all of the time, they were punished too. Still, even if they were, it was some kind of game to get me punished worse. Especially my little brothers. Once they were old enough to be influenced by the brainwashing/ rules, I was looked down upon, even by the other girls. They were fine as babies."

"I know I'm going to regret asking this," Harry muttered before he continued with a bit more volume. "Didn't your mother ever help you?"

"No." Mal shook her head. "Lauren often joined in if she could. She always had an excuse to do as little as possible and leave all the work to me once I was old enough to take care of myself in the sect's eyes, which is like four or five. She was pregnant; she was sick; she had a baby to care for; she couldn't take care of the others, that was my job. Course nine times out of ten I was caring for the new baby too because she was sleeping till Arnold got home then she was catering to his every whim."

Harry shuddered at the image and Mal nodded and gave a shudder of her own. "Andrew helped whenever wherever he could. His job was to stay quiet, stay out sight, get good grades, and someday marry a daughter of another family belonging to the sect and be just as perfect as Arnold. If he was to redeem his soul and end up in Heaven, he needed to be at least as perfect as the lowest member of the community, some man name Roger Crete, and have as many, if not more, children than Arnold."

Mal pulled back from Harry's embrace, and he tried not to let that hurt him. But given the serious look on her face, she would back in his arms again soon, he was sure.

She didn't want to leave his embrace, but she needed to say this, and she needed to be looking him in the eye face to face when she did it. "The only other thing I need to explain before my death, and it affects my other lives as well, happened when my last baby brother was born, after my mom had a hysterectomy."

Harry folded his arms and gave her his full attention. Not that she didn't have it before, but he was going to make sure she knew she had it right now.

"They named him Timothy after some Saint I think I can't remember now." Mal said waving that away so she could get to the important parts. "I was ten, and little Timmy and mommy came home, but she was worse than she had ever been before. She was bedridden, and people would come over, waking her from her sleep to yell at her. They called her less than a woman. Arnold would yell himself saying she should have just died while giving birth to Timmy. She was worthless now. He was horny, wanted more children, and she was unable to provide.

"One night, oh, about two, three months later, it got particularly bad. Officials from the church were there along with the leaders of the community and there was a lot of yelling from them to mom and she was just crying. The only time the kids were allowed on the first floor was to eat and say prayers afterward. I was allowed down to cook dinner, there were doors and they were all closed and the adults were on the other end of the house in the parlor. So I couldn't really make out what was said other than the aforementioned insults. They were repeated a lot.

"That night, homework was done, kids fed and put to bed, house cleaned, the adults were still gathered on the first floor, and Andrew was helping me to bed. I was so exhausted I could barely move. I remember him covering me up, kissing my forehead, telling me he loved me and good night." Mal sniffed and had to swallow another lump. "Next thing I knew, mom was screaming in the doorway. She must have come up to give us all a good night kiss. The adults came up and she told them what she saw, I never knew what they were so afraid of till I got older."

"Which was?" Harry asked not understanding what the problem was with an innocent kiss between siblings.

"Incest." Mal said simply.

"He was adopted." Harry rebutted.

Mal shrugged. "No one wanted Andrew there, they were looking for ways to get rid of him since Terry left, and that just provided the excuse to do so. Like I said before, they were deadly to things they didn't like, and they didn't like Andrew. He wasn't born there, and he was a reminder of Terry." She coughed in an attempt to try to stop crying, but she knew, in the end, her efforts were for not. "Andrew was dragged away by the adults and my bedroom door was slammed and locked shut from the outside like it was every night." Tears streamed down her face as she told what came next. "I could hear him crying, screaming, pleading with them to stop. But they didn't. I heard chanting, sorry, praying, and the beating. It was loud enough you could hear it on the second floor. I screamed and cried so hard, but no one came. I prayed and cried and begged for help, but none came. I passed out on the floor, exhaustion finally taking its toll, Andrew's crying haunting my nightmares." She sniffed and looked Harry in the eyes, they also had tears in them. "The next morning, he was gone. I was expected to act as if nothing had happened, to not ask questions, I was to pretend that Andrew never existed in the first place. If I didn't obey, I was severely punished. All traces of him disappeared the next morning. I never saw him again, in that life, or in any other. He was only there for that first one."

Harry had to gulp back his own tears. "What do you think happened?"

Mal shrugged. "If I had to guess they killed him." She met his eyes after wiping her own. "All legitimate routes of getting rid of him had failed, and they couldn't abandon him as the state knew Lauren had adopted him. It wasn't unusual for the unwanted in the sect to one day be there and the next to be gone, I knew that from seven years old. After a week of him not being there, it wasn't hard to realize what they did. I was scared the same thing would happen to me, so I forced myself to move on."

Harry shook his head a tear of his own rolled down his cheek. He knew how he felt when Sirius died, to realize that your big brother was killed as a child, and to be afraid that the same would happen to you, he couldn't imagine that.

Looking at Mal, he realized there was a reason why he was so drawn to her. The same pain he felt, the same horrors he went through, she could relate to. She alone could understand him. He wondered if she knew that too, if not, how long would it take for her to figure it out?

"Now," Mal said clearing her throat, relieved she finally made it. "That leads me to my first death."

Harry got comfortable, he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear at all.

"Three years later, Lauren wasn't doing so good." Mal said sitting back herself. She wanted to be back in Harry's arms, but she didn't want to push her luck either. "For some miraculous reason, whether it was because she sacrificed Andrew, or something else, Lauren remained married to Arnold rather than disappearing. Doctors gave her a few more years. She refused meds that could help her live longer, and with her organs falling apart due to diabetes, it wouldn't be long before she wasn't alive anymore.

"It was at this time that puberty hit me like a freight train." Harry had to chuckle at her tone and how she manipulated her voice to be more masculine for the last part. "I went from a B cup to a DD over one summer. Course, as you can imagine, everyone had a comment about it. Half of the sect said it was indecent, it was wrong. I heard whispers saying I was evil, tempting good and decent men to commit sin. That was the women talking. The men as you can imagine were rather pleased and viewed me as a future breeder. I was already considered more beautiful than my mother, and with the way my body was developing, men were looking at me to be the next breeder.

"Early that fall, I was extremely sick. Between a high fever and the meds, I had to take or die, and the sect wanted me alive because I would serve a purpose one day, I was pretty out of it, and I was confined to bed till I got better." Mal looked out the window at the view and used the beauty and wonder of what was there to give her the courage to say the terrible thing that happened next. "Arnold came in one afternoon. Saying I was growing into a fine woman. An even better one than my mother. I was more pleasing to look at on my worst day than my mother was her on her best. Soon, he said, she'd be dead, and all he had to do was wait till I was legal. Then, he could marry me, and I could give him even more children. It wouldn't be the first time it happened in the sect, and it wouldn't be the last he said. Until that day, and since my mother was no good anymore, a little taste of what would be his, to train me up some, so he could last till then and I would know whom I belonged to."

Harry tensed as she continued, but said nothing.

"I was in and out of it as he played with my breasts. I was aware of what his hand was doing in my panties between my legs, and I remembered him jerking off. I couldn't see anything, and I could barely feel what he was doing. The fever had me so sick, I could feel the pressure of the touch, but that was about it. When he finished, he told me to take a bath to clean up." Mal sighed and looked back at Harry, unsurprised to see the rage in his eyes that was making them glow. Though his face showed no emotion. "I didn't, I ran to my mother instead, being the foolish child I was, thinking she would help me. I was still covered in Arnold's "adoration", and it was proof to my claims." Mal shook her head, chastising herself again, "Stupid, idiotic child, even after everything I still hoped, but it was in vain. Lauren went into a rage, in a rare moment, she had some energy and strength. She began to scream at me and beat me, though given her state of health it didn't hurt all that much physically. The damage was more mental and emotional. She called me a whore and accused me of stealing her husband before she was even dead and buried.

"She dragged me before Arnold, being sick I couldn't fight, and confronted him about my accusations. They began yelling and fighting, and he backhanded me and I fell down the flight of stairs nearby for "telling" on him to wasted flesh that was my mother. He called her a walking corpse and of course he was going to make me his next wife. I was young and beautiful, and I could secure his place, both in the sect and heaven. If Lauren could give him eight kids, I could give him at least that, and he would soon have more than any other man in the sect.

"I could hear that from the bottom of the stairs. I crawled away as soon as I could move again. Somehow, I ended up outside, and my siblings who were coming from school upset that I got to stay home when they didn't, seeming me sick took advantage of it and kicked me out of the way. I landed in the pool, how I don't know, but as soon as the cold water hit me, I fell unconscious and drowned soon after."

Mal broke down crying. Even when she was alive, she forced herself to never think about the past, to keep moving forward or she would break. Even in this place, she didn't dwell on the past. Rida wouldn't have let her regardless.

Harry wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him again till she was held tightly against him as she cried.

"I'm sorry," She sobbed, trying to stop from crying. "I'm trying to stop, but I can't."

He kissed the top of her head and gently rocked her as he spoke. "Part of the point of this place, this purgatory, is to allow mortal souls a chance to process, accept, and move on after what happened to them. As I said before. You were never given that chance. I'll give you that now, you need this, and then we'll get to my second death."

She wasn't sure if it was his comfort or the power of Purgatory, but she sobbed and sobbed in a way she hadn't since Andrew was lost to her. Not since Arnold seemed to beat her tears out of her successfully over her lives with him as her stepfather. Harry was patient, rocking her gently the entire time. No words spoken, crushed tightly against his chest, never letting her go.

After an unknown length of time, she finally seemed to wind down, hiccupping a little from crying so much.

"How can I be this tired and still cry this much?" She wondered softly aloud.

Even if he wasn't supposed to hear, Harry still explained. "You've never been in a safe place before, even in death. You were never given the option to rest, am I right?"

"You can sleep here!?" Mal asked incredulously.

Harry nodded.

Mal shook her head. "Rida always wanted me to sign the contract and get on with it."

Harry shook his head annoyed. "A soul needs to rest. That is what souls do in Heaven, they are eternally at rest until they are either needed or wake of their own will. To my understanding, neither has happened yet. Even here, souls are given the option to rest and recuperate after each life before moving onto the next. Gabriel has always made sure to do this with me. Grant it my rests were rarely spent sleeping, but he still gave me that time."

"I do want to sleep." Mal admitted softly before looking up at Harry, "But I want to know more about you before I do. If I fall asleep now, I won't wake till Gabriel gets back here I think."

"Most likely." Harry chuckled in agreement. "I'm tired enough to sleep myself, but I'm also in agreement with you." He brushed a wet lock of burgundy hair from her face. "I want to know more about you before we do. I want you to know about me. So let me tell you all about life at Dursley's."

Mal rested back a little in his arms so she was still looking up at him as he spoke. Harry smiled down at her, relieved she was finally there and unwilling to leave him, happy about it too. He no longer questioned why he felt that way, it just felt right, and he was going to do what felt right. If nothing else, Purgatory had taught him, if it felt right, it was supposed to happen.

"Well, I was a baby for the first death, so obviously I don't remember it, or coming here for that matter. Gabriel read me the file about it later on, once I was mentally old enough to understand this place and about life and death." He took a breath and continued. "I was put back two minutes before Voldemort's attack. This time, he didn't use Fiendfyre, just the killing curse, and a cutting curse. Because the killing curse rebounded on him, his wand was at an angle, and the cutting curse went above my head rather than at me and behead me.

"To state for the record, since you laid down some groundwork, never in any of my lives, did I see my parents will, or even knew of its existence when alive. Here, I know it exists, but in the mortal lives, I didn't. I don't know what it says, but I know it's there."

"Why hasn't Gabriel told you it's contents?" Mal couldn't help but ask.

Harry opened his hand's palms up, "There are some things that I, or really anyone, can only learn as a mortal. Besides," he said wrapping his arms around her again. "It's not like I would remember anyway."

Mal nodded in agreement, and Harry continued.

"Anyway, as I'm sure you're aware," Harry grinned at her knowingly, getting a smile in return, "Dumbledore dropped me on the Dursley's doorstep in the middle of the night, and a rather hysterical Petunia found me the next morning." Harry sighed and he looked ahead unseeing. "The next six years were everything you suspected, and worse. I was starved for days, sometimes weeks at a time. Particularly around birthdays and holidays. I worked as a slave, and if I did any of it wrong, I was beaten. If I was caught stealing food, I was beaten. I was beaten when Dudley and Vernon were bored, angry, or for special occasions. So pretty much every day, I was hauled out of my cupboard, if I wasn't already out and doing something, and beaten."

Mal held her hand on his face gently till he looked back down at her, she was scared to ask, but she had to know. "With just fists and feet, or did they, use other things?"

He leaned his face into her hand, closing his eyes, enjoying her soft touch. There was something caring about it, affectionate in a way he had never experienced before. There was genuine care in her touch, nothing possessive like he what he had experienced with his two wives before.

"They used whatever came to mind." He eventually said opening his eyes looking back down at her. "Fists, feet, belts, iron fire pokers, in Petunia's case a hot skillet with food still cooking inside or cooking oil. Anything and everything they could think of, they used. Petunia once broke of a vase that Marge gave her that she didn't like over my head, and later blamed it on me, which earned me a cane to the back from Vernon as Dudley cheered him on."

Mal looked at him horrified, and he wondered how she could be so mortified by this given what she endured. Still, he was touched that she cared so deeply. When she lowered her hand, his face felt a little cold in its absence.

"I take it Marge joined in too?" She asked softly.

He nodded.

"And Ripper tearing chunks out of your legs?"

"He did it right in front of everyone and I had to clean up the blood before it stained the carpet before I could dress the wound with a dirty dishrag." He said apathetically. "All the while getting yelled at and blamed for the event as my fault, and Marge's only worry was my toxic blood would poison her precious dog."

A tear ran down her cheek. He resisted the urge to kiss it away, instead just wiped it away as he continued.

"I never had toys, only broken and partial things that I learned to splice together to make my own items. My favorite one, my only toy I ever owned, before Petunia found it while raiding my cupboard, was Luke: the spider. It was pieces of stuffed animals that Dudley ripped apart. Luke had the head of a raptor, body of a turtle, four legs and tail from a tiger, and three legs from a dog. I took the pieces and some things from Petunia's sewing kit that she never used, it was just there for show, and made myself a toy. I had Luke from when I was four until I was eight. I played with him, talked with him, and cuddled with him as I slept when I thought it was safe to.

"Petunia was looking for evidence of an ice cream container that went missing one day. For clarification, Dudley ran off it with, but of course, Petunia's most precious Duddy-Kins was never even considered a suspect. She pulled everything out and found Luke under the loose floorboard and shrieked at the "ugly monster" she found there." Harry looked away spacey again and mused, "There was a time when I thought that was my name, or freak. Never could figure out which one it was supposed to be."

Not liking the pain he'd been through, Mal smiled warmly and decided for a change of subject, even if just for a moment. "Luke sounds so ugly it was adorable. Just like pugs, the dog breed."

Harry laughed, "Yeah, he was."

"What happened to Luke?" She asked, "Did they throw him away?"

"Oh no." Harry shook his head. "That would have been too easy, and wouldn't have taught me a lesson. Vernon burned Luke in the fireplace while Dudley and Petunia held me back and made me watch. I was then beaten for "ruining" Dudley's things and beaten again for "stealing" from Dudley and Petunia, before being thrown back in my cupboard for the next six days without food.

"I stopped carrying about objects after that, I stopped making toys for myself. What was the point if it was going to be taken away or killed?" Harry looked down at her with a shrug. "Course all of that happened after my second death, but it paints the picture of life with Dursley's for you."

"Go on." She encouraged softly. Knowing there were more details he was leaving out.

Knowing what she meant he nodded and continued. "To explain more, every pet Dudley ever got died shortly after he got it. As Dudley was too good for chores, I was always the one that took care of them. He liked the animals, but they liked me a hell of a lot more than they liked Dudley. Then, Dudley being Dudley, and being a right jealous prick, made sure they were never around for long. I think the longest was for a week.

"The puppy he got he beat to death in his room. Despite the fact that Dudley was the one covered in blood, I was still blamed, beaten, and forced to clean up the mess. Dudley put the cat with her kittens that Petunia rescued in the microwave. The fish he dumped on the sidewalk to suffocate and cook in the summer heat. The birds he clipped their wings and shot them out a window from the attic using a slingshot."

Mal could see it all in her mind, and she gagged. She felt like if she had been alive, she would have thrown up after picturing all of that. If nothing else because of the sheer evil that seemed to be inside of Dudley. Rather than get Dudley help, Vernon and Petunia encouraged it and allowed it to thrive.

"He sounds like a serial killer in the making." Mal muttered.

Harry shrugged. "I couldn't tell you one way or the other, but you might not be far off with that assessment."

"The situation with my clothes is true enough if you go by the canon verse of my life." Harry said. "Only instead of a belt, it was a broken purse strap of Petunia's that I modified to hold my pants up. After beating on me for stealing it, she "let" me keep it so I wouldn't drop my pants and embarrass her in front of the neighbors."

"So it was one of those special occasion beatings that I mentioned when I met my second death." He said looked down at her with a grim smile. "It was Dudley's seventh birthday, and I dropped Dudley's piece of the cake. Which I should point out it was three-fourths of the damn thing, and the bloody thing was a four-tier cake at that!"

Mal shook her head. "No wonder he was the weight of a whale in one of the books."

Harry chuckled at that before he continued. "They'd managed to break my wrist earlier that day while beating, sorry I meant celebrating Dudley's birthday, on me, I mean with me. Magic had managed to heal it to a fracture by dessert after dinner, not that I knew that's what was happening at the time, causing my wrist to be weak and the plate to fall because I couldn't carry the heavy son of a bitch."

Because Mal described the events leading up to her first death, and how she died, Harry explained what was done to him, when normally, or at least, going by his instinct, he would have glossed over the facts.

"In retaliation, Vernon took off his belt and began whipping me. When Vernon got winded, Dudley took over gleefully till Vernon was ready again. Cackling like cartoon villains do when they think they've won. When Dudley's turn came again on the fourth round, he had a knife in his hand this time around, and he "tripped", and the knife he was holding plunged into my neck."

Mal gasped and instinctively reached for his neck as if to stop the blood, offer comfort, or check for a scar. She stopped before she touched him realizing how foolish that would have been.

He chuckled amused, took her hand and kissed it gently before he continued. "When I arrived here, Gabriel held me like he would his son, and comforted me. I didn't want to go back, I wanted to stay here, in this peaceful place, with the captivating view, and the kindest being I'd ever met."

"But," He growled. "Destiny being the bitch that she is, I had to go back. I was sent right as I picked up Dudley's piece of cake. Instead of a fractured wrist healing after a break, it was a sprained wrist healing after a fracture, and all it did was pain me some. So I was able to not drop the cake and the round of beating followed by the deathly stab was avoided. I spent the next three days in the cupboard. Only let out to do my chores or use the loo."

"When did you start taking your adult form here?" She asked curiously.

"My third." He answered unabashedly. "You?"

"Rida actually fought to keep my child form present at all times here, or the age I was when I died." Mal explained, "But after my fifth death, Rida was unable to keep my adult form at bay any longer. She was not happy about that, let me tell you. I had to listen to her rant and rave for what felt like years."

"Could have been." He said sympathetically. "Time passes differently here."

Mal sighed, "To my second death then?"

He nodded. "It's only fair." He grinned at the end and she shook her head at his cheek.

"My second death follows right after my first." She explained. "I survived the drowning, and told the doctors, and later the authorities the truth about how I got there, and what happened before that. As there was some DNA evidence behind my ear that somehow managed to not get contaminated, they had undeniable proof that Arnold assaulted me. They had the evidence confirmed within hours. Arnold was arrested, and I was sent home a few days later.

"My grandparents were the ones who picked me up and were supposed to take me home as my mother couldn't drive anymore and couldn't leave the other kids. They brought me to the basement of the church, where the Priest and the local nuns tied me to the bed. I was forced to undergo an exorcism. Because a "good man" like Arnold was arrested for such horrible things, I "had" to be possessed by a demon. My being sick "proved" that. I was fighting the vile thing within myself, and they were going to purge it from me one way or another." Mal took a careful breath as she continued. "My lungs were already weak from what we learned at the hospital was pneumonia and nearly drowning, to the point the incense smoke suffocated me within a few hours."

Harry carefully pushed her out of his arms, got up slowly, walked to the side wall on the wide wall which held the door on the far side of the room, all the while looking eerily calm. Then, with a face contorted with more rage than Mal had ever seen before, he swung his right arm back and punched a massive hole in the wall they both could have walked through it comfortably. Thankfully there were no occupants in the next room.

Just as suddenly as he made the whole, Mal blinked and the hole was gone again. When he looked back at her that eerie calm look was back on his face.

"Is it normal to kick or punch holes in this place?" Mal asked when he met her eyes, "Or is that just your thing?"

While her attempt at a joke to calm him down was appreciated, it upset a part of him all the more. She was making light of what happened to her, and he couldn't stand that. But then again, he'd done the same, and if the pattern held, would attempt to do the same in the near future with some of his deaths.

Still, even with a part of him being upset about it, a small smile cracked on his face, and he took a few deep calming breaths before going back to the couch where she was still sitting and waiting for him. He got comfortable and pulled her back into his arms and rested his head against her own as he drew comfort in her presence to finish calming down.

Mal was surprised by this move, but offered no protest and enjoyed being in his arms. It seemed he really did want to hold her as much as she wanted to help by him. It was also a relief, and a little alarming, to notice that she was actually calming him. While canon Harry wasn't really known for his temper, she'd read quite a few fanfictions where he was known for his temper and people did their very best to avoid getting on his bad side. Certain redheads and white-bearded old men withstanding from that of course.

She wondered if anyone had managed to calm him this quickly when he was upset before, but thought it best to not ask that. Instead, she rested her chin on his chest, allowing him to pull back and look down at her. "If this is how you're going to react to my second death, then things won't go well for us as we continue."

"No doubt." He agreed. "If it helps matters, I have a feeling you'll be right where I was, reacting in much the same way soon enough."

"You know," Mal couldn't help but smile and tease a little. "For all of your hatred of the subject, your skills at Divination are astounding."

Harry took her by the chin, so she was looking into his eyes and nowhere else as he glared at her. "Bite. Your. Tongue."

In response, Mal stuck out the tip of her tongue and proceeded to rest her front top and bottom teeth on it. Harry, wasn't sure how to react to this image, inside, he was laughing, though his face pouted.

Mal proceeded to laugh, the look on his face was too precious to not laugh. Harry, even though he was being laughed at, grinned at the sound of her laughter. For a moment, he almost heard the twinkling of bells.

"Alright," Harry said calmly the situation after a few moments, settling back and pulling her into him so she was resting against his chest, his chin once more on her head. "So now it's my turn to tell a death. Now before I get to said third death, I need to explain a few things. Namely, my reaction to the Wizarding World, Hogwarts, and my experience with them. As well as lay the foundation for several people."

"Stupid redheaded bints and a white-whiskered wanker?" Mal asked unamused raising her left eyebrow.

Harry found himself biting the inside of his cheek to keep from kissing that solitary raised eyebrow but chuckled nonetheless at her description. "Quite."

Mal rested against him, smiling softly up at him to continue when he was ready. He was actually pining for and grateful he lacked a mortal body at the same time.

He mentally shook his head to focus on the story. "When the first letter came, directly directed to me, in the cupboard under the stairs, knowing details no one on the outside did, I was too shocked to have any kind of reaction at first. In my state of shock, I didn't hide the letter and Dudley saw me with it. Naturally, he snatched it away before I could read it and tattled to Vernon and Petunia. Their reactions: horror, fear, fury, you name it, it was there. Jealousy added in Petunia's case. This intrigued me, and I decided I had to know what was in that letter."

"But they refused to let you." Mal said remembering from the canon and her own imagination filling in the rest.

He nodded. "The more they denied me right to the letters, more and more arrived, and the more eager and desperate I became. Likewise, the more frantic, desperate, and outright panicked Vernon and Petunia became. They were determined that I not know about magic or my true heritage, and I was determined to know what the blasted letter was and how it knew details I was forbidden to speak of, and no one outside #4 Private Drive knew of.

"When Vernon packed us up and ran away, the more intrigued I became. I realized now, he was terrified. I hadn't been beaten since the first letter arrived. So whoever, whatever, was writing to me, scared the holy hell out of my relatives, and I was that more eager to know who the hell they were. By the time we reached the shack, Vernon and Petunia were run ragged and paranoid in their panic, and I was desperate to know what was in that letter. Dudley just wanted his bed, his television, and his video games back."

Mal rolled her eyes. "The fat whale needs a boot camp. Even in canon, I thought it was good for him to get away from all of that."

Harry smiled at her as he continued. "My first view of Hagrid, after he busted down the door, of the shack mind you, was a very large being shrouded in shadows with a terrible storm behind him. I thought, Bloody Hell! Vernon and Petunia were right to be afraid, what came after us was a monster!" Harry then shrugged. "But Hagrid quickly proved himself to be very childlike and harmless."

Mal snorted, she couldn't help it. "Harmless?"

"Yes," Harry quickly agreed. "I learned really quick, childlike Hagrid was, but when it came to his interests and creatures, Hagrid could be very dangerous."

Mal giggled as he shuddered. "I always wondered what the Blast-Ended Skwerts were like."

"Nightmares." He shuddered again. "I swear if I go back with my memories intact the first thing I'm going to do when he brings those things out is slaughtering them all!"

"The movies made Hagrid out to be really sweet." Mal said looking at Harry pouting a little. "Maybe it was because he was one of my favorite characters, holding onto innocence and light despite the darkness surrounding him, but I carried that over into the fanfictions. Even if he was eventually punished for his crimes, it was because Dumbledore painted a target on his back." She met his emerald eyes, "Was it really all that bad?"

"Let me give you a list." Harry seethed, not at her, but at the memories. "A Giant Cerberus, who wasn't finished growing I might add! A baby dragon! An Acromantula, which for the record, was HUGE! We're talking as big as a house huge! And that's just the first two years at Hogwarts!"

Mal scoffed at the height description. "Surely it wasn't that big."

He raised his own eyebrows at her. "Were you there?"

"We're getting off track." Mal said with a wave of a hand knowing she couldn't answer that question. "Back to it."

"Yes, ma'am." Harry chuckled. Taking a breath, and smiling in spite of himself. "Regardless of all of the later events, Hagrid did what I thought was impossible up to that point in my life; he got me away from the Dursley's." A grin appeared over Harry's face as he remembered his first time in Diagon Alley. "He took me to Gringotts, and it was a beautiful, yet intimidating, place to see. Then we went shopping for all of my school things. While out, I got real food, real treats, and a pet of my very own. I worried about that at first, and I reluctantly explained to a disheartened Hagrid, it wasn't that I didn't want the beautiful owl, it was I worried about what the Dursleys,"

"aka Dudley." Mal muttered softly.

"Yup," Harry nodded, "would do about it. Hagrid assured me that the Dursley's would not be killing this animal. She was smart, for one, and for two, he'd deal with them if they did."

"Now, as I'm sure you know," Harry grinned at Mal, "In the canon verse, Hagrid brought me back to the Dursley's, after dropping me off with my school things and my ticket, where I stayed awkwardly till the start of school."

"But that's not what happened." Mal surmised.

Harry made a face where his lips folded in and his eyes closed as he shook his head. "No, that is most definitely not what happened." He growled, barely containing his rage as he continued, "We were sitting at the Leaky Cauldron eating dinner, resting after the trip and all of the shopping when a house elf popped in." Seeing the look on Mal's face, before she could react, he grinned, "Yes, that's the first time I ever saw a house elf, and Hagrid was the one who explained what they are to me. Dobby, while unique in his first impressions, wasn't the first one that I ever met. But he never knew that, and I never had the heart to tell him otherwise." Harry said with a shrug.

Seeing the rage coming back into his eyes, Mal wrapped her arms around him, and just rested against him as she stared him in the eyes while he talked.

"Hagrid and the house elf were in a heavy argument." Harry seethed. "I'll bet half of the damn alley heard it from the way Hagrid was yelling. Still, no one did a damn thing." Mal's hand rubbed his lower back and he took a deep calming breath which allowed him to continue without murder in his voice. "Hagrid did not want to return me to the Dursley's. He wanted to bring me back to Hogwarts with him and raise me himself. Only a wizard by the name of Dumbledore wouldn't let him. He was talking to Hagrid through the elf, hence the argument in public. Dumbledore said something about the wards, I didn't know about the blood wards at the time."

"Pardon," Mal said and Harry gave her a quizzical look. "Are Blood Wards illegal, I think it's mentioned in the canon verse that they are, but nothing more is ever said about them. In the fanfictions, writers rip it apart. Saying they're illegal and wouldn't have helped at all."

"They are most definitely illegal and did absolutely no good. As you know of the prophecy, it should come as no surprise to you that Dumbledore wanted good ol'Moldyshorts to come after me. Even sent guards to watch over me. He basically gave the man a road map!" Harry tapped her nose with his finger as he started speaking before growling at the end. He inhaled deeply before saying, "But that's a story for later. Continuing where I left off, Dumbledore was saying it was the safest place for me. Hagrid argued back about what the letter pointed out, and the clearly abused lad, being me. But Dumbledore wouldn't hear of it.

"I was actually, legitimately scared then. The Dursley's was the scariest place I ever knew, and if that place was the safest place for me, I was scared to face the rest of the world. For the first time in my life, I wanted to curl up in that cupboard and never leave again. I found myself arguing back and forth about it in my head while Dumbledore's elf and Hagrid were arguing."

"Well, obviously you wouldn't want to go back." Mal said softly.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, in the end, I decided I most certainly did _not_ want to go back to the Dursley's. I'd rather be anywhere else, with anyone else. By the time I came to that conclusion Dumbledore had put his food down, and a rejected Hagrid went back to his meal as the house elf left. After the meal, which after that scene neither of us were really all that hungry. A rather reluctant, sullen, Hagrid brought me back to the Dursley's."

"Now," Harry repositioned himself and grinned down at Mal. "Picture this would you, a giant behemoth of a man, biggest one you've ever seen your life. Goes from being this jovial, easily pleased/ excited person, to looking like a petulant child having their favorite toy taken away from them after they did something wrong."

Mal couldn't help but giggle at the image.

"I'd seen mood swings before that, and I'd seen my fair share after that," Harry shook his head. "But never in all of my lives, has anything surpassed that giant bushy-haired man, covered with fur, throwing a tantrum after being told no."

Mal snorted and buried her giggles in Harry's chest. It was only when she recovered that he continued.

"Once we arrived back at dear #4, Hagrid proceeded to put the fear of God in the Dursley's, and for a moment, I thought they were actually going to start praying and attending church regularly." Harry explained amused by the memory even now. "Due to his threats, and while under his meaningful glare, the Dursley's moved me to Dudley's second bedroom, and despite the fact that we already ate, made sure that Petunia, who made the rare dinner, gave me a proper meal."

"Wait," Mal held up her hand to stall him for a moment. "I thought they gave you the second bedroom during the delivery of all of the letters as a means to circumvent the letters."

Harry shook his head. "That's only in the books. In truth, if they could have kept me that cupboard forever, they would have."

Mal sighed and shook her head. "Some people aren't worth the oxygen that they breathe."

"I completely agree." Harry mused softly. "Getting back to the story; despite Dumbledore's orders for him to hurry back, Hagrid lingered till I was tucked into bed. By him, I might add. Odd thing. The room barely fit him and yet he tucked me into bed as if I was his own son."

"It warmed your heart." Mal mused with a small smile.

He shared in her smile and nodded. "Yes, it did." He leaned in closer, "Course I found out later on, by that I mean while I was here, that Dumbledore had been furious with Hagrid for that defiance and henceforth banned Hagrid from seeing me outside of the magical community again until Dumbledore said otherwise." He laid back and sighed. "I was curious why that was the only time other than a few, later on, I ever saw Hagrid outside of Hogwarts, and Gabriel, being allowed to share only some things, was able to answer that question."

"How long till things went back to the way they were before?" Mal asked.

"About three days." Harry mused. "Then they went back to treating me more or less the same as before."

"Let me guess." Mal said sitting up and glaring down at Harry. "A certain white bearded buffoon told them all clear, but let you keep the room?"

"Right on the galleon." Harry said with a nod. "Course I only found out after my death and Gabriel's telling me."

"I take it they were happy to get rid of you for months at a time?" Mal asked that eyebrow raised again.

Harry nodded, then shrugged. "At least that was my impression. They did their best to conceal the truth from me, but they happily dropped me off at King's Cross station. Well, Vernon and Dudley were happy, Petunia was sulking. I thought at the time it was because she would have to cook and clean and take care of her own garden now. At the time, I suspected it so easy because one, they were already headed to get Dudley's surgery to remove the pigtail, and two, as you so eloquently put it, it got rid of me for months."

An evil grin came over Mal's face. "You can't eat for twelve hours before the surgery, right?"

He nodded.

"So Dudley couldn't eat anything before then could he?" Mal grinned even more.

Harry grinned and nodded. "What wasn't commonly known in the stories, is that this was actually the third attempt to get the surgery done. Dudley kept sneaking food and lying about it and when they gave him the drugs to make him sleepy he threw up on everyone. So they had to keep going back. To keep Dudley from eating anything the third time, they had empty out all of the food, hide it in the shed where Vernon kept a backup fridge and lock it up tight. Dudley was devastated. They had a huge meal at a buffet, then came home and Dudley wanted more, but he was told no. He wasn't told where the food was, and he kept looking for food. I was actually conscripted by Vernon to find all of the food in Dudley's hideaway places to ensure that. No one slept that night because of Dudley's wailing and tantrums, and Petunia's wailing and Vernon's yelling at her to not give in again."

Mal cackled a little. Then looked at him morosely. "I wonder if Dumbledore argued with Vernon that he wouldn't have to deal with you as much if you were at Hogwarts."

"Probably." Harry shrugged. "As much as Vernon hated magic, what could he do against Dumbledore if he said to send me to Hogwarts? Besides, Dumbledore needed a relatively competent Harry to face Voldemort."

"What exactly was Dumbledore's plan anyway?" Mal asked softly, more to herself than Harry. "For Voldemort to kill you then for Dumbledore kill Voldemort himself once all of the Horcruxes were dealt with? Rather terribly done I might add."

Harry chuckled and grinned. "Getting ahead of the story, aren't we?"

Mal pursed her lips, and narrowed her eyes at him, but said nothing.

Not for the first time, Harry realizes how much he wanted to kiss her. Swallowing hard, he continued.

"I was thoroughly embarrassed and nervous walking through the station. Then I heard Molly's shouts and Ginny's responses."

"Didn't you question that!?" Mal asked shocked, sitting up again so she was facing him with a look of annoyance. "It was obvious she was setting a trap for you to walk into!"

"No, I didn't question." Harry said with a shake of his head. "It never occurred to me to question her motives. Molly was all smiles and nice, and I had precious little of that in life so far, and I clung to it. Besides, Hagrid talked about the warm redheaded Weasley family a little while we were together. So when I realized it was them," he shrugged. "As I said, I clung."

Mal groaned and got up to pace. "Of all the dirty nasty tricks!"

"I quite agree with you." Harry said leaning forward.

"Obviously!" She ranted. "A trap!"

"And it worked." He said. "You have to remember I was a child, and there were people being nice to me, how often do children really question that?"

Mal stopped and sighed, he didn't like that heartbroken look on her face.

"True." She finally acknowledged, then sat down beside him again. "So, gold digging harlot Molly helped you onto the station."

He laughed a little before picking up where she left off. "I was awestruck by the train even after getting on it. Added to that I was still reeling from the kindness and motherly affection Molly had shown me. When Ron showed up, I clung to that new friend. Though my first impression of the rather bushy-haired Hermione, which you have to remember, I'd met Hagrid, who also has bushy hair, the fact that I say she has bushy hair should tell you something. Anyway, my first impression was that she was a bossy know it all, who had to be right all of the time, and no one could tell her otherwise. And that impression was proven right over the years. She hid her true nature for a little while, but not for long."

Harry laid back and grinned, lost in his memories, and Mal liked that look on him.

"The first right on the Hogwarts Express was my first ever train ride, and I had such a great time with Ron. Laughing and bonding, almost like we were brothers, and yes, I latched onto that. As fun as all of that was, it was the first sight of the castle that took my breath away." He paused and pointed to the view beyond the window. "The only way I can describe how it felt seeing Hogwarts for the first time, is how it felt seeing this for the first time."

Mal grinned down at him. "I can imagine it was life-changing for you."

"That it was." He nodded. "I promised myself staring up at it that I would do whatever it took to stay there, and be the best wizard I could be." He sighed looking out the window disheartened. "A promise I broke rather quickly, and had a habit of breaking after that."

Seeing how hurt he was, Mal laid down in his arms again, nuzzling his chest as his arms came around her and held her. "It wasn't your fault."

He sighed and rested his head against her own, "No, it wasn't." He agreed softly. "Apparently, I'd been dosed with loyalty potions from the start. It was just easier to fall in line and not try. Especially being unaware of the potions, and being unaware of them, I didn't have the necessary forethought to fight them."

"I understand that all too well." She sighed. "Exactly how close to the start did the potions begin?"

"My first night there, during the opening feast." Harry said with no emotion. "Keyed to Dumbledore and Ron. Which is why all of my mistrust and eventual hatred for Dumbledore never surfaced again. At least until the hunt for Horcruxes, but that's for later." He enjoyed the little pout Mal gave him before it disappeared from her sweet face. "It's also why I was the understanding and forgiving friend whenever Ron was a righteous arsehole and didn't deserve it."

"Dumbledore couldn't take the chance where his weapon was concerned." Mal mumbled, and Harry nodded having heard. "What about Hermione?"

"That came later." He said firmly.

She knew not to push the issue then, and let him tell the tale in his own time. He wasn't mad at her, she could sense that it just wasn't time to tell this part yet. She sensed something bad happened with Hermione later on. As she didn't want to rush him, she waited till they got to that point.

"The halls were beautiful old stone faded a dull gray over time, with marble for the rest of the time, and all of it was alight with the glow of candles. Everything was decorated for the opening feast and the arrival of the first years. I'm rather glad to say that I wasn't the only one lost in awe and stunned into silence. Even Draco was like me. Only Hermione was still talking, rather quickly. We're talking, whole paragraphs in one breath quickly. Hardly anyone heard her, even those who were, weren't really paying attention to what she was saying. Something that upset her a great deal. Later I learned she was talking about and literally quoting passages of Hogwarts A History."

Mal sighed. "Sounds like Hermione. I thought she was okay in the canon, but she wasn't really my favorite character. Some fanfictions paint her in a better light, others, not too much. They make her downright villainous. In one story that I read, she's basically the reason the entire muggle race dies, despite the fact she was trying to help them."

Harry shrugged. "In a different world, certain choices being made, I can see Hermione doing something she thought would help but ultimately having it backfire."

"Did the sorting hat go as in canon?" Mal asked softly. "Wanting to put you in Slytherin, but you wanting Gryffindor?"

He chuckled. "The sorting went as you would expect, and mostly following the canon. When I was called, a hush came over the crowd. The hat actually said I had the qualifications for all four houses. Slytherin being my first, Hufflepuff the next, Gryffindor, then Ravenclaw. Slytherin because of my cunning and ability to hide in plain sight. Hufflepuff because of my loyalty to those who were dear to me, or would eventually be. Gryffindor because of my bravery, and the fact that I'm his heir. Ravenclaw, because despite Dumbledore's later actions, I was, and am, fairly smart."

"But you argued Gryffindor." Mal said with a fond smile.

Harry nodded. "My best mate was already in Gryffindor. By that I mean Neville, not Ron, but I'll get to that later on. The hat was almost insistent that I be in Slytherin, but because I was determined, he acquiesced and put me in Gryffindor."

"I wonder how much of that desire was because of the Horcrux, and actually you." Mal mused resting her ear against where she would have heard Harry's heartbeat had they been alive.

"I've wondered that too." Harry mused as well. "Many times."

For a moment, things were silent as they rested there.

"It was after that my life carried out much like it did in the canon." He sighed. "Being here numerous times, I've had the chance to read the canon and a few fanfictions. I'll explain more about that later." Mal nodded and let him continue. "Snape, was every bit the evil you believed him to be. Gabriel later told me that had I had been born a girl, Snape would have raped me. Had I looked more like my mother, boy or girl, I would have been raped by Snape thinking I was Lily reincarnated for him. I just narrowly missed being a sex slave to the sick bastard Snape."

His murderous rage was palpable in the air, and Mal knew she had to change the subject to calm him down. "I wonder if Snape was Dumbledore's sex slave and if that's why you would have been used either way?"

Harry gagged, grateful he wasn't mortal and shuddered at the images that were brought to his mind when she said that.

"Sorry." Mal said trying to hide her smile and suppressing a giggle.

He didn't miss that but was grateful she tried to not enjoy his suffering. He waved off her apology. "As disgusting as the imagery and thoughts are, you have a point." He met her eyes, "Now I will clarify I have nothing against same-sex relationships."

"You just have a problem with the slash that involves you, Snape, Voldemort, or Dumbledore." Mal said with a nod. "Understandable."

Harry shuddered again. "I'm so glad nightmares aren't possible here."

"Moving on, you and Ron were close, with Hermione later joining your ranks," Mal said, "pick up from there."

"It was never supposed to be Ron. Or Hermione for that matter." Harry said laying back and pulling her down with him. "It was supposed to be Neville with whom I should have been friends with. That's all I know, that's all Gabriel could tell me."

Mal sat up and faced him. "I might actually be able to help with that."

He laced his fingers together on his stomach and looked at her patiently.

She took off her boots and sat cross-legged on the couch facing him, really glad that foot odor wasn't a thing here as she hadn't cleaned her boots in a while. "Now," She said firmly to him, "bear in mind this being taken from both canon, and fan theory/ fanfiction."

He nodded.

"Okay, so what's widely believed is that because you and Neville were the babies of the prophecy, you should have been an unbeatable duo. Going further into that, as brothers of the prophecy, you should have been raised as brothers. Your parents, as well as Neville's, were close even before they joined the Order. I'm pretty sure that Lily was Neville's Godmother and Alice, Neville's mother, was yours. If anything happened to the other, be it because of the prophecy or some other happening, you two should have been raised together as brothers."

Harry stared at her for a long time. The information she gave him repeating over and over in his mind. "Huh, you might be spot on with that assessment." He gave her a confused look. "But why would Dowager Longbottom not bring this forward?"

Mal raised her hands, palms up. "There are a few reasons. The first is she wants Neville weak so she can control him and thus maintain control of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom as she has since Frank's and Alice's attack. The second is because of the attack, she was wracked with grief and suddenly very worried and overprotective of Neville. The third, while combined with the second and the power she held in the first, despite everything she tried, Dumbledore was a powerhouse she couldn't overcome."

He nodded. "But wouldn't their will have stated such things? Why didn't she bring it forward?"

"Like I said," Mal said lowering her hands. "It's either option one, or she's waiting till Neville's of age, or of an age where she thinks he can handle the truth to open the will. That or in her grief she forgot about it. Or the theory I'm leaning towards is she doesn't want it enacted. Not because she wants control of Neville or the Longbottom's power and fortune, but because if she opens the will, that will mean that Frank and Alice are in fact gone, and beyond any help."

"Again," Harry nodded, "You might be onto something with that." He shook his head and grinned at her. "Anyway, I owe you a death."

"What's practicing magic like!?" Mal asked excitedly before he could move on. "What's flying like?"

He merely grinned at her, not at all upset by her questions. "All that you can imagine and more. I really don't have words for it."

Mal looked disappointed, "It's one of those things one had to experience for themselves." Harry nodded. "I understand." She shook her head then and smiled at him. "Back to your next death then."

He recognized the technique. Burying disappointment or hurt so others wouldn't know the true extent of what you were feeling. He wished he could give her an answer that would make her happy, but he really had nothing that he could say.

"You know," Mal said before he could continue. "I'm a little concerned that we're both a little too eager to hear about death stories."

Harry laughed and her previous questions and reactions, for the moment, were forgotten. Which was her goal. She smiled as he recovered and continued.

"Well, first and second year happened, and not much was different from the canon verse, except the practical experience was something else entirely. Not as fun, or as pleasant as it seemed. It certainly wasn't easy to experience and it was a lot more difficult than the books made it out to be."

Mal nodded in understanding.

"My third death," Harry met her eyes, "I met against the Dementors, or rather after the fact. Magical exhaustion after casting two powerful Patronus's, the second being the more powerful of the two in such a short span of time. Without the proper treatment and time in between to regather my reserves, I exhausted myself out to the point I had no magic left in my body and it killed me. According to Gabriel, the blocks on my core were to blame for that."

"So it's true, Dumbledore blocked your core."

Harry nodded.

Mal looked out the window in confusion. "But why would he do that? Blocking your core is counterproductive to your destiny. Even if you managed to get to Voldemort, you would have had to put up a convincing fight, or Voldemort would never have believed you were the child of the prophecy. Sure, he would have killed you and the Horcrux would have been dealt with, but if he didn't believe you could battle him on equal footing, he would have left you alive and told others to do the same. He would have protected you regardless that you were so weak to keep himself alive. I don't understand Dumbledore's motives on this. Sure, I have theories, who doesn't, but it doesn't make sense."

Harry shrugged. "There are many reasons in Dumbledore's mind, and I'm sure none of them will make sense to us. Besides, I'd rather not think about it right now. It's something to think about later on."

"Understood." Mal agreed with him. "If I'm still around," She said fidgeting some, "I would like to help you, even if it's just to be a listening ear while you talk out your theories.

Harry smiled warmly at her. "I would like that."

 **}TLCW{**

AN: Updated on 4/28/19


	6. Chapter 6: Tell Tale Part Two

_**WARNING:**_ _This chapter and the next will feature traumatizing content. This chapter and the next will feature Mal and Harry divulging all about their pasts. From how they grew up to how they died nine different times._

 _The chapters will also be severely dialogue heavy. I promise this won't happen all of the time. Can't say it won't happen again, because I don't really know._

 _For those who are_ _ **sensitive**_ _or easily_ _ **triggered**_ _,_ _ **these chapters**_ _you might want to_ _ **skip them**_ _. They will briefly be touched upon later on, not all of what was said, just that they learn everything there is to know about each other's pasts. All that you need to know, for those who don't want the nitty-gritty details, is that they talk about how their lives were, more specifically, how they died the nine times before._

 _Also, I_ _ **apologize**_ _to those who are religious. I have nothing against religion, but I do recognize that certain people use this as a means to gain power and control of the masses as they hurt and torture people. Such as certain cults, and others throughout History._

 _ **Spoiler**_ _: Mal was raised in such an environment, and there will be situations where religion is used as a weapon or as an excuse for their actions. Again, I apologize, but for the purposes of this story, I thought it fit._

 _So again,_ _ **traumatizing content ahead**_ _,_ _tread carefully_ _and thanks for returning._

 _Yes, that is a clear cut and paste of the last author's note, but what was started in chapter 5 continues here, and it needed to be repeated. I swear the story will be picking up again in the next chapter._

 _And_ _ **Disclaimer**_ _; I do not own Harry Potter in any way shape or form, I'm just playing with the readymade works of J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers._

 _ **Please support the official release.**_

 **}TLCW{**

Mal, in a moment of silence that passed between them as they were telling their Death Tales, took stock of the situation.

Her day had started out like any other since she split with her ex and started working at the club, and she ended up dead before it was done. She ended up back in the afterlife, surrounded by other angels, these with black wings, and another soul. Rida, her poor excuse of a guardian angel thus far in her existence, was smacked down, both by her and the angels. Then she found herself sitting in Gabriel's office, with his charge, the soul that had been in her room with the other angels. Who was none other than Harry Potter.

To say she had been obsessed with the Harry Potter story when alive was putting it nicely. Now she wasn't Ginny Weasley fangirl fanatic obsessive with the Boy-Who-Lived, but she was interested and did everything she could to find out more. It was a little surreal to be sitting with him on a plush couch, with a view of the cosmos beyond the window.

Course they were both dead, so that might have something to do with the feeling. She had to keep reminding herself this was real, this wasn't a dream. While they felt no hunger here, they could feel tired and pain. That much she was aware of. She really hoped he didn't notice her occasional pinching herself to make sure that she was in fact with him.

Sitting across from him was shocking enough, but then he'd held her in his arms. Multiple times, for a very long time. And they were sharing each other's pasts with the other. It was a lot to take in, but she was managing it well she thought.

"So, a death for a death." She smiled back at him only to find he was grinning expectantly. "I assure you, my third dead wasn't anything as glamorous as magical exhaustion saving a loved one from Death's own creature."

Harry snorted, but let her continue.

"As I said, Andrew was never in any of my other lives, I was alone in each life after the first one when it came to Lauren's first marriage, then remarried to Arnold until the little blights that were my siblings were born." Mal sighed. "I can glean from what you've said that your lives so far is that they picked up right before your death."

He nodded in confirmation.

"Well," She growled. "For some reason, Rida restarted my whole life from the beginning and did so with each life thereafter. As I said, no Andrew, she never knew of an Andrew and accused me of making him up. You can imagine my reaction and I just gave up eventually. It wasn't worth it to keep fighting with her. Anyway, after Terry was forced to leave Lauren, she remarried Arnold, blah blah. I was three at the time. Due to Arnold's abuse and focusing all of his attention to train me properly as a daughter of the sect, something Lauren neglected to do, Lauren grew jealous of the attention he gave me, which in her mind, should have been on her. Lauren wanted Arnold all to herself, she told me this whenever he wasn't home, and punish me for the attention he gave me. One night, she packed me up into the car and told me that she was going to start anew.

"It was the middle of the night, in the dead of winter. Lauren got me up, put me in the car, and drove off. At first, I was cheering, we were leaving "that scary" man mama wanted me to call Daddy, but I refused, and he hurt me for it. I was so happy. I was even in the front seat and not in the back in my booster seat. But the longer we were on the road, Lauren was quiet the whole time. Not even the radio was playing. There was a look of determination on her face that began to scare me. Soon my cheer fell into fear."

Mal sniffed and looked out the window. "We were driving for a few hours and we were on some backroad in a forest. Lauren stopped and looked at me. She said I was ruining everything, and if she was going to start over, and be worthy enough for the sect, for her family, for Arnold, then she needed to be rid of me. She opened the door, picked me up, and literally threw me out of the car and onto the dirty snow. She grinned at me, this insane grin as she slammed the door shut as I was struggling to get out of the snow bank and sped off again. I was left out in the cold."

"At first I sat there, shivering as I cried and I cried." Mal said as tears streamed down her face. "I tried to follow my mama home, but I was so tiny, and cold, and hungry. I got so tired, so cold, I fell into a little ball on a snowbank as fresh snow fell around me and cried and cried. Eventually, I passed out. When I woke up, I was with Rida. I wasn't in her arms, I was on the floor, still cold, still three years old. She offered no comfort as Gabriel did for you. I didn't want to go back, I cried and begged Rida to not send me back to those mean people who kept hurting me. Rida yelled and smacked me. I was forced to go back. No one was there yet to rebuke her, so she got her way no matter how much I fought."

Mal hadn't realized she was crying so hard till Harry sat forward and pulled her into his arms again. Holding her tightly as he began to rock her again as he had before.

"When I was facing the Dementors defending Sirius the first time, I felt cold, freezing, and everything the Dursley's ever did to me was repeating over and over in my mind. The last thing I heard before I blacked out the first time was my mother crying, pleading with Voldemort to spare me before he killed her. She died screaming my name. The second time, it was worse. I was literally freezing. My fingertips were already breaking off as I tried to keep my grip on my wand. I didn't have the luxury of falling asleep as you did. I was very much awake till the bitter end. I could feel my body freezing, I could see the dark shadows circling before they encompassed me and dragged me down to the darkest coldest depths I'd ever experienced before waking up here again."

She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back, "I'm sorry you went through that."

"I promise I won't gloss over my deaths from here on. I will tell all." He said kissing her head. "I'm sorry I lapsed into that again. It's a habit. Or was."

"I understand." Mal said softly. "If anyone can, I'm that person."

"I really want to rip Rida's precious white wings off." Harry growled seething with rage. "Then shove them up her arse for all she's put you through!"

Mal pulled back and looked at him, "Careful, Rida might enjoy that."

Harry pulled back as well with a quick shake of his head and gave her a gobsmacked and confused look before shaking his head again to clear his mind before demanding in a somewhat shrilly voice, "What!?"

"Oh yes." Mal nodded. "Don't you know it's always the quiet ones who are the kinkiest?"

Harry glared at her. "Rida is hardly a quiet one."

"Point." Mal conceded, "But backtracking a bit, but still on the same branch, some of the most devoted are into some kinky desires. Not that they would ever admit it."

Harry shook his head with a grimace, "Fine then, down her throat it is."

"Umm . . . Harry," He looked down at Mal's expression and did not like that raised eyebrow and smirk he saw on her face. Mal knew she shouldn't say this, but by God, she couldn't help it. "Haven't you ever heard of deep throating?"

Harry choked, and he wasn't sure whether to scream in horror at the image of Rida liking being choked on her wings or bark with laughter. His reaction was a mix of the two.

"If you really want to punish Rida," Mal said sounding like a teacher talking to her student. "Then perhaps after ripping them off, you should cut them up into itty bitty little pieces that would take days to put back together then cast Fiendfyre on them right before she goes to pick them up to do just that."

Harry couldn't help but grin at Mal. "Why, Ms. Mal, I do believe you're going to be a bad influence on me."

Mal fixed him with a look, "If you're not already twisted, you're a liar."

"You're not wrong." Harry did laugh now. "But you're opening up all new avenues for me. Things that will make Dumbledore cry and say I'm going dark."

"And yet, you love that." Mal said with a grin.

"Indeed," Harry merely grinned back, "I do."

"Expanding on our little timeout here," Mal said as she looked at him curiously. "How powerful are you really? If you had your unlocked."

Harry shrugged. "If Gabriel is to be believed, and I have no reason not to, I'm easily more powerful than Voldemort and Dumbledore combined. Which is probably why Dumbledore bound my core. So he wouldn't have competition in the future. To put it in perspective, I'm pretty sure I've scared Gabriel a few times when my magic reacts here."

Mal really wasn't sure what to say to that, and it was clear to her that Harry wasn't done explaining.

"My core was bound in every lifetime," he explained. "Sometimes, more than once, and by more than just Dumbledore, so I was never allowed to reach my full potential as I was growing up. Which is why, in my adulthood, I only ever got weaker and weaker, because my body couldn't adapt to the stronger magic, and as it died off, so did I."

"Was Molly the other that bound your core?" Mal found herself asking through gritted teeth.

Harry nodded. "And Voldemort that night in the graveyard before we dueled. Which you can imagine how shocked he was that I was still able to beat him in our duel and get away. He was actually glad he bound my core after that because it meant that he would have a difficult fight, but ultimately, he would win."

"I have something to say," She said softly, "and you may not like it."

He shrugged. "I assure you, can't be worse than anything else I've heard."

Mal began to fidget again. "Well, you see, there are theories, that you're not the first person that Dumbledore did that too."

"Riddle." He said softly.

She nodded. "It's a theory, and even in a lot of fanfictions, that Riddle, while still a bad person, was made into the Dark Lord that he was because of Dumbledore. Now he would have been a terrible person either way, but nowhere near the extent that he was if Dumbledore hadn't done what he did. It's speculated that he bound Riddle's core, Imperiused him, wiped several of his memories of their "sessions" together, and more. Dumbledore was losing his power base, and he needed to defeat another Dark Lord to get more power and fame. But then that prophecy came into play and ruined all of Dumbledore's carefully laid plans."

"Sounds about right." He sighed.

"Going further into that, one of the reasons that Riddle/ Voldemort is so powerful is because of the rituals he did to enhance his core. Which may have unlocked the blocks on his core that Dumbledore placed on him. It would only add to the many reasons why Riddle hates Dumbledore. Not that he would admit it."

"Because it would be showing weakness." Harry nodded in agreement.

"I can offer more insights about the reasons for the weakened core." Mal said softly, Harry gave her a nod and she continued. "Well, if a person's core is weak, they are more susceptible to mind magics, and potions along the same lines. I mean, Molly needed to make sure those love potions would work, as did Dumbledore, and with you being able to fight off the Imperious curse in your fourth year when Crouch Jr cast it on you, with your core already bound previously a few times, Voldemort needed to make sure you were weak as well."

He sat there for a long time in silent contemplation. Everything she said, made a lot of sense. "It's a sound theory, I'll ask Gabriel about it."

"And you trust Gabriel?" Mal asked nervously.

Harry nodded. "While he has delivered news and answers I didn't like, he's never lied to me. I hope the questions I asked will be answered differently this time around, but I do trust him." He ran his hand through his messy raven hair and sighed. "Not a lot of people can honestly say that. That they have never lived to me and have my trust."

To stop herself from worrying about meeting the Arch Angel, Mal rested against Harry again. "Tell me about your fourth death?"

Realizing why she needed this, Harry grabbed at the distraction. Funny how the whole purpose of this conversation was now a distraction from bigger issues. Especially considering why this conversation was so important.

"My fourth and fifth deaths were during the Triwizard Tournament." He said resting back and playing with the tips of her hair to keep himself calm, as these deaths were as tiresome as they were infuriating. "I wasn't quick enough during the first task, and was rather exhausted; from magical, mundane, or other reasons, I don't know. But the result was the dragon's tail spike through my stomach before being swallowed whole and alive."

Mal looked up at him mortified and he nodded as he continued without emotion. "I was alive when I hit the dragon's stomach. The acids began to dissolve me rather quickly. I could literally feel myself melting."

Mal stared at him abject horror as he continued. "According to Gabriel, I'd been in the stomach for a whole five minutes before I died. The whole while, everyone was panicking, trying to save me. By the time they got the dragon to regurgitate me ten minutes later, I was nothing but a puddle of goo and a pile of bones. Gabriel let me watch the scene, and I'm glad we don't have stomachs here or I would have thrown up."

Mal gagged just imagining it. Having seen the show Supernatural, anyone who watched the episodes about shifters knew roughly what that scene would look like. Thinking that it was actually Harry in that puddle of goo, Mal squeezed him tighter, know how she would have reacted if she had been there in person.

Harry smiled softly as he hugged her a little tighter in comfort. It was odd, that after the fact so many years later, someone was finally reacting to the story the way a friend or loved one should.

"Dumbledore fainted and landed on what was left me. I chuckled at that because it also meant, until they realized what was happening to him, the dragon's stomach acid was also burning him, and the damage I hear is irreversible. All of his left side was eaten away till there was nothing but bone. At least on his face. His shock was because he believed so completely in the prophecy's literal translation, and according to his infallible logic, I could only die by Voldemort's hand. Well, there I was, quite obviously dead, and his belief was as melted as I was. His poor senile old mind couldn't handle the reality shock."

"Serves the bastard right." Mal muttered into his chest.

It tickled and resulted in him laughing a bit as he answered. "Quite."

"What about everyone else?" She asked looking up into his emerald eyes.

"Hermione and Ginny were clinging to each other, crying over the loss of " _their Harry_ " before they realized why the other was so upset and began fighting over which one was going to have me. At that moment it didn't matter whether I was alive or dead. What mattered was which one was going to be my wife, the next Lady Potter. It was all about establishing dominance over me and over the other. At that moment, I was completely forgotten.

"Ron was bawling and mumbling about the loss of the Potter wealth, how they, more specifically he, would never get it now because the stupid Goblins would claim it since I had no will and there were no more Potter heirs. He was right of course. Because of no living will, didn't matter that Dumbledore was my magical guardian according to the Wizengamot. What mattered, was the Potter's were now dead, and with no blood left, all the money and artifacts were now forfeit to Gringotts."

"Wasn't there anyone who would miss you for you!?" She demanded outraged. "Wasn't there one person who would miss **you** , not for the "boy who lived" bullshit or your damn money!?"

Harry, surprised by the depth of her caring, found his answer very easily, and calmly. " I would say Sirius, but we weren't all that close then. He would have missed the son of his best friend, or because he'd seen me as my father more often than not, he would have mourned the second passing of his brother in all but blood. So, no.

"Due to the potions, and Ron, then Hermione chasing everyone away, I didn't have very many friends, and no one ever really knew the real me. Hell, I barely knew myself because of all of that. I wasn't allowed to be my own person, much less make my own friends. I existed for Dumbledore's and Molly's plots only.

"After coming here, I learned that Dumbledore, after we helped Sirius escaped used that guilt trip and later a lot of charms and potions to keep us apart, and Sirius's mental and physical facilities to stay the way they were and slowly diminish over time. Molly helped him when Dumbledore wasn't able to. Apparently, they were relieved and happy when he died. They needed me to rely on them, and Sirius was in the way."

Mal collapsed into tears. "Why!? Why were we forced to suffer so much!? Between my abandonment and abuse, and you're being controlled, manipulated, and abused! It's almost too much to bear! Why!? What's the point!?"

Harry held her close and sighed. "I don't have an answer to that, as I've wondered the same thing many, many, many times myself. When I did voice it, not even Gabriel had an answer for me."

Mal got up after a while and began to pace. "What about your fifth death, the one during the tournament."

"Isn't it your turn?" He chuckled a bit.

He expected her to smile and oblige him as she had thus far, but she didn't. Instead, she whirled on him with so much anger he jumped as she glared and raised her voice. "I know! But I need this! I need you to tell me your other death so I can hopefully calm down and not want to kill some angels! As I'm pretty sure that will get me a one-way ticket to Hell!"

She was scary right now, and he wondered if this was how Gabriel felt all of those times he scared the angel.

"I sent back right before the stabbing, this time adrenaline kicking in so I didn't get stabbed by dragon's tail. I succeeded. I made up with Ron, again loyalty potions. Flashforward to February, Ron was my hostage to save. I got him fine, Krum got Hermione, and Cedric got Cho, but Fleur never showed and time was running out. Gabrielle was still tethered down, and I could see the status spell was reversing. The merwomen were already torturing her, while the mermen I think were getting ready to rape her. Because of the Veela and Merpeople war from what I understand. I acted as quickly as I could. I sent Ron up and battle the merpeople off to save Gabrielle."

"Did they," She stopped, gagged, then looked back at him, "Did they . . ."

She couldn't even finish her thoughts let alone her words, and she felt so ashamed.

Knowing what she meant, he shook his head. "She was cut up, but nothing had been penetrated by anything."

Mal sniffed back tears. "Good. Though that doesn't diminish the traumatizing experience Gabrielle had just endured and would likely suffer for greatly for many years."

Harry looked at her for a long moment, she looked even more vulnerable than Gabrielle did that day in the lake. He held out his hand toward her and beckoned her forward. "Come here," he pleaded softly. "Let me hold, and I'll finish this death tale of mine."

He was surprised and euphoric when her shoulder's slumped and she curled up in his embrace willingly. Also, a bit eagerly if he wasn't mistaken.

"On our way back to the surface, the gillyweed was wearing off, and due to Gabrielle bleeding as well as my own, the Grindylow's were in hot pursuit and gaining fast. As the gillyweed wore off the slower I got." Harry explained as calmly as he could.

"I knew we wouldn't make it at the rate we were going, so I did the only thing I could think of. I cast a floatation charm on Gabrielle and cast Ascendio on her while I was stuck going at a slower pace. Shortly after she was at the surface, a grindylow smashed into my hand and wrapped its self around my hand. This had caused me to drop my wand, so I was unable to really fight them. The pack caught up then and began to drag me down. Thankfully, they prefer fresh kills, so I was drowned before they began to eat me. All I remember was fighting them, fighting for air, the burning." He touched his throat and chest to indicate his lungs. "Then it was like falling asleep."

There was no waiting, Mal immediately began to talk. Hearing how he died, with no one to care, no one to really miss him as a person broke her heart. "My next two deaths fell around Arnold's molestation."

Harry's instinct was to growl, his hands balling into fists as he hugged her closer, rage coursing through him. Given what he already knew, what she'd already been through, he knew he was _not_ going to like this. "Go on."

"It was after the molestation." Mal said rubbing her hand softly over one of his fists. "I went to Lauren. She scooped me up, I was sick, scared, and hurt, so I trusted my mother. Never occurred to me as she packed me into the car that she wasn't supposed to be driving anymore, I just thought she was going to help me. I passed out almost as soon as we were out of the driveway, and when I came to, I was in a forest in the middle of a storm. I looked around, it was clear I had been dragged some ways away from the road. I'm not sure how, as my mother was very weak, but it was clear from my clothes I was. A fog had rolled in, and with my vision swimming, I couldn't see the ground to find the trail to find the road. I picked a random direction and started walking. But like I mentioned, vision swimming, fog so thick you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, I couldn't see a thing. I was cold, sick, dizzy, and when I started falling, it took me a second to realize what was happening. By the time I realized it, it was too late. I hit the ground then woke up back here.

"Needless to say, Rida had me right back to my life, and I once again found myself where the molestation began. This time I fought. I'm not exactly sure why, or what caused me to fight back this time. It was like I felt like some part of me knew what was going to happen and that it had happened before, and I was not going to let it happen again. Obviously, I came to realize that when I returned here. In that moment though, I just didn't want that man touching me. So I fought back, and because I didn't accept his adorations, Arnold strangled me."

"I'm curious," Harry said holding up a hand. "What exactly was Rida's excuse for all of this? Why did she keep letting the molestation happen!? From what I've learned about angels, both from the manuals and Gabriel, such a thing is considered the gravest sin a person could make!"

"Rida said the drowning and suffocation were simply tragic mortal choices, everything else she blamed on me." Mal said deadpanned. "Her words, and I quote, if I had never been such a wicked soul to begin with, that never would have happened. I was obviously touched by the Devil. It infected and tainted people and their desires to allow them to commit such vicious acts. I was the cause, and I must have wanted him to do that, because why else would it happen?"

Harry hugged her close, his legs on either side of her so she was surrounded by him, resting his cheek on her head. "Tarnok told me that Rida was responsible for all of your deaths."

"I know." Mal sniffed. "Rida told me."

"Are all of your deaths so horrible?" He asked softly.

Mal shook her head, "My sixth and my last death were car accidents. My sixth death was a car accident on the way to prom."

He lifted his head and looked at her confused. "Prom?"

She laughed, "It's kind of like a Yule Ball but in the spring. The men wear suits, the women wear gowns. It's supposed to be a magical might." She looked morosely at him. "But I never got to go, Rida sabotaged my chance, and made sure I didn't go to it at all after."

Harry went back to nuzzling her hair. He just barely caught himself from saying he'd make it up to her. But how in the world could he do that? He didn't know what year Gabriel would be sending him back to, and it wasn't like she would be going with him. It wasn't like he could promise to take her to that blasted Yule Ball so she could have one magical night. However, he might actually enjoy the damn thing if she was on his companion for the night.

"So that's two deaths plus one," Mal said looking up at him. "But you only have to tell me one and then we can go back to taking turns."

"No," he said with a shake of his head. "This is a two-parter, connected by one event like some of yours have been. So I'll tell it one go, all I ask is that you not react till it's all over."

Mal took a deep breath, he'd given her the same courtesy, and if it was as bad as she suspected, he would need this.

"Okay." She nodded and nestled into his embrace. Hoping, that he was drawing comfort from her being there.

He took a shaky breath as he nodded in thanks. "Much like you, I never went into detail about my deaths, as I've said before. For you, you weren't given the chance; for me, it was choice. Not even Satan got me to talk about it." At her confused look, he explained. "Gabriel and Satan tag teamed me and we had a drinking binge before I was sent back after these two deaths. Even sodding piss drunk, I still never talked about it. Then, life and time went on, and it was easier to push it aside rather than deal with it, let alone talk about it."

"I thought as much." Mal said softly. "Pretty much how I dealt with issues myself."

Knowing he needed this, for certain now, she wrapped her arms around him and stayed silent and let him work out things for himself and tell his story in his own time as he did for her.

"It was the summer after fifth year, and Sirius was dead. I was once again imprisoned at the Dursley's, cut off from the Wizarding World, no one was checking on me. Despite the constant guard outside. I was being starved again, and I barely registered the beatings that were the Dursley's show of affection. So you can imagine how the passing of days went unnoticed to me. Kreacher did answer my call once, he brought me as much fire whiskey as I could pay for from what galleons I had left. Then like everyone else he vanished and left me alone without a word."

Harry sighed, gulping back unshed tears. "I was drunk, I had given up on living, on people. I had no desire to live, much less sacrifice myself on the altar for the magical world. Dumbledore wanted his precious weapon safe, but all he was succeeding in doing was killing me. One day, I'm not sure when during the summer, a cup of tea and a bowl of porridge was delivered via the cat flap that was on the door.

"I was ravenous, so I devoured both greedily before going back and consuming more of my whiskey. Never once did I question that something was wrong. I ate it so quickly I never registered the taste. Course, that could have also been because of the fire whiskey muddling up my tastes. So when I blacked out, I thought it was because I was sodding drunk again. There was nothing I could do to stop it, I didn't want to stop it. Though I didn't realize then I couldn't have stopped it even if I had been in better health.

"It was in the black void that I realized it wasn't a natural unconscious or even a drunken blackout. I thought in that state, that Voldemort and the Death Eaters, had found me. That they'd come to kidnap me to slowly kill me elsewhere like they did everyone else."

"Is that what happened?" Mal asked fearfully. Pulling back so she could look up at him.

His face darkened by the weight of a terrible deed done, one she knew all too well.

"If only," he whispered. "If only."

Mal turned a little so she could capture his hands in her own and grip them tightly in comfort as he spoke. Watching his features as he did so.

"I drifted in and out of consciousness. As I did, a few things became clear. I was tied to a bed, I was painfully erect, and there was a naked woman bouncing on my erection. Even unconscious, I could feel the woman's channel on me, not the tightness others in my dorms had described, but not lose either. In my later lives, I would come to learn that was the feeling of a woman after years of regular sex."

Mal looked at him horrified. "Well, it's obvious that you were drugged, but who could have possibly have done that to you!?" She looked at him furiously. "Hermione!?"

He shook his head.

"Ginny!?" She growled.

He shook his head again.

"Cho?" She asked confused.

Harry shook his head again.

"Bellatrix!?" She asked scandalized.

He cracked a bit of a smile. "No, and if I'm being honest, I would have vastly preferred that crazy bitch. In retrospect, she was rather fetching for her age once you got beyond her insanity and obsession with Riddle."

"I'm honestly at a loss then." Mal said looking at him fearfully.

He sighed. "You're missing one woman, one who had been there, nearly all of my life."

Realization dawned on Mal. "No!"

Harry nodded grimly. "Petunia was positively gleeful when I woke up, calling me James, saying how much she missed him. How she had so desperately longed for him, how much she loved him. I say him because she was talking to my father, not me."

Mal nodded knowing what he meant but didn't dare say a word.

"She said they were together now, and she was going to give him a child, better than the one her sister gave him. They would finally be together, and they would finally be a family."

He sounded so dead, and he looked so grave, Mal had tears running down her cheeks. "Where was Vernon, or Dudley? Didn't someone notice? You mentioned the guards! Didn't they notice something was off and stop it!?"

Harry shook his head. "The guard's orders were to not approach the house under any circumstances unless the Death Eaters were attacking. I think Dumbledore had charmed the place so no one knew what was really happening inside the house, but I have no idea." He shrugged and sighed. " As for Dudley and Vernon, they had gone away on one of their summer "fishing trips". Actually, they went to a "spa", that catered to some rather "happy endings". If you catch my drift."

Mal nodded again.

"Dudley boasted about it the summer before I went to the Quidditch World Cup. They disguised it as a fishing trip. Vernon usually went on these trips alone, however that year, he dragged a reluctant and complaining Dudley along. Apparently wanted to prove that Dudley was a real man, thinking his son was bufter because all he did was hang out with guys. Dudley bragged he proved rather quickly that wasn't the case. As far as I know, he went willingly that year."

Harry sighed. "But, back to the point of this story; for four whole days, I was drugged and raped by Petunia. No matter how much I begged, no matter what I said to deter her and prove that I was not James, she never let up. I screamed till I was hoarse and had no voice. No help came in any form."

Mal was shaking so bad she almost couldn't breathe, and she was grateful she didn't need to breathe in this place.

"On the morning of Dudley's and Vernon's arrival home, she released me. Dragged me to the shower humming sweetly in her own way. Promising as she washed me that she would leave Vernon for my father as soon as she confirmed she was pregnant with his child. I hadn't even been aware she dragged me to the shower to wash off the scent of what she had just been up to off of me until the water ran cold.

"Finished and dressed, she stripped the bed and left me to myself. She opened the windows, sprayed air freshener in the bedroom. I wandered downstairs, unnoticed. As Petunia was covering up her crime, I wandered upstairs to the second bathroom, I locked the door behind me and sat in the tub. All the while still naked, and holding the sharpest knife the Dursley's had."

Harry stared ahead unseeing. "Without blinking, I slit my wrists up to my elbows before slitting my own throat. I suspect that magic was the only reason I was able to do that. Vernon and Dudley came home, I could hear them as I was bleeding out. I still hadn't emerged, so they went up to fetch me to unpack for them. Blood was filling the tub as it spilled out of me, so they didn't suspect when they came to the door. When I didn't answer, they broke down the door, Dudley vomited, Vernon began yelling in jubilation, it was then that Petunia came in and saw the scene. Her screams of horror and anguish were the last things that I heard."

Harry sniffed as he continued, unaware of Mal's own tears streaming down her face. "Mortified by what happened, the heavens were speechless, all of the angels were unsure of what to think. Gabriel was unsure of how to react, as was Michael, but Satan did. He tried to seize control of my soul. I later learned it wasn't to punish me as many had feared, rather recruit me. Satan was ultimately denied by Michael, and I was sent back to the mortal realm."

 _One death down_ , Mal thought not breathing anymore, _one more to go_.

"I woke in the bathroom, holding the knife, just before my suicide. This time, I didn't go through with it. I put the knife back in the kitchen, dressed, and curled up in bed. I blacked out. Later on, I woke to the sound of a shotgun getting ready to fire. When I opened my eyes, I saw Vernon holding one, and fired. He figured out what had happened and blamed me for it."

Mal was shaking in abject horror. When Harry looked at her, she saw the fear in his eyes. It wasn't the rape that had him looking at her in that way, she knew that. It was his suicide that he worried about her reaction too. She wasn't sure how she knew it. May have been because she herself was a victim of sexual abuse, and he knew she would understand being made helpless and forced to submit to an act that you couldn't stomach. May have been the power of Purgatory that let her know. May have been something else entirely. In any case, she knew what was wrong, and she knew what she needed to do.

She carefully turned and wrapped her arms and legs around him gently. "I thought about it." She whispered softly in his ear as her chin rested on his shoulder. "I thought about it so many times. I had access to guns, knives, poisons. So many times, I had a weapon in my hand, but I could never go through with it. I was too scared. I envied those that could free themselves. I don't hate you, Harry. I would have reacted in the exact same manner if I had endured that situation."

Harry broke down crying. Wrapping his arms around her waist and crying into her chest. He was relieved that she didn't hate him, think badly of him for his cowardice, and was relieved that it was finally spoken of and off his chest. He knew a vast amount of this purging was because he was finally starting to believe that he was okay, and it didn't make him less of a man. Hearing it from someone else, another mortal soul, actually had him accepting it a lot easier.

Damn angels for being right. Gabriel, Michael, even Satan said if he couldn't talk to them, he should talk to a mortal soul who had experienced a situation similar to his own.

He knew that no one in Purgatory, or at least, no one who mattered here, held him in any way responsible for what happened. Michael flat out said, souls who took their own lives after a terrible event like that, or freed their souls from their bodies because there was literally no other way to escape that terrible fate they didn't deserve, were not held accountable, but rather given a new and better life to make up for the situation of their previous one.

Now souls who committed suicide to escape punishment for their sins was a different matter entirely.

Mal held him tightly as he had her before, running her fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp, and making comforting noises. There was so much more she wanted to say, but in the end, she knew he needed this purge more. And she had said all that she needed to. By telling him her own experiences, she had acknowledged his own pain, by telling him he wasn't the only one, it allowed him to let go of his own self-loathing at his actions.

Even if he already knew all that, she knew he needed to hear it anyway,

She already knew that he was well aware of the rape and Vernon's murderous actions weren't his fault. She was sure the angels had made him very aware of that fact in the time that had passed between then and now. He'd obviously dealt with a lot of it in his own mind. It was the fact that he had committed suicide because of it that got to Harry.

Mal knew all too well, there were just somethings that a person could not work out on their own. However, those things were usually the darkest parts of humanity that no one wanted to know about. Which is why she never talked about her problems when alive. She buried them so deep, at times, she forgot about them. In her last life, she was so focused on living day to day, that she often forgot about the circumstances that led her to that point until she had to deal with them.

When Harry finished crying himself out, he pulled back and rested against the couch, allowing Mal to untangle herself from him and sit beside him again.

"Stupid angels always being right." He muttered laying his head in her lap so he could look up at her and still be close to her. "They told me over and over talking about it would help."

Mal chuckled softly. "At least you feel better now."

"You seem a little too cheerful." He muttered glaring at her with his bloodshot eyes.

The smile he got in return, honestly scared him more than Bellatrix ever had.

"Oh," She said sweetly, "I'm just thinking of the best ways to kill them is all."

 _Damn, she even sounds scarier than Bellatrix_. Harry thought. "And what exactly, is the best way?"

Harry realized his grave mistake is asking as her grin grew wicked followed by a wicked laugh that would put both Bellatrix, and that Disney villain Maleficent to shame. He honestly thought Voldemort would be envious of the way she was reacting.

"First," Mal said in a greedy voice, "I will skin them alive and use magic to keep them alive in that state. Then, I will rub their bodies down with salt, and lemon juice, and anything else that will sting! I will do it over and over for days till I grow tired of it. And the worse is yet to come."

Harry gulped, "What's worse than being skinned alive and enduring all of that?"

Had he thought she looked scary before, he had been wrong, so wrong. The look she gave him now was just downright horrifying.

"Did you know," she asked in that scary sweet tone again that could make Bellatrix cry. "That male cats have barbed penises?"

He stared up at her from his head's place in her lap, "Uh, no. I did not, and honestly, that was a tidbit of knowledge I could have done without."

"I saw it in a tv show." She said with a shrug as she carried on. "I also found this video once, it was a clip of this anime that I have no idea what it was. But the clip had what appeared to be a gang, bringing a rather good-looking young man to their leader. A giant of a man, at least as big as Hagrid. The boss then raped the young man behind a curtain while the gang stood guard looking dead with their expressions. The young man died of blood loss from being split in half. I'm sure you can guess why that was."

Harry looked mortified as Mal laughed wickedly.

"Oh yes," Mal laughed more, "That is what I plan on doing to them."

"Isn't that a bit harsh?" He asked, not at all afraid that his voice squeaked a little.

Her evil grin turned into a dark glare. "An obsessed pedophile rapist and their supporter deserve far worse. The fact that they hurt you so much, just ensured their end should be painful, bloody, and humiliating. What's more humiliating for a man, a professed straight womanizing man, to be raped himself, especially after covering one up!?"

"I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm very biased when it comes to the Dursley's, but could you actually go through with it?" He asked softly. "Especially knowing how close you came to being raped, and my actually being raped?"

Mal sighed and sat back with a pout. "Probably not, but I would be thinking it."

He couldn't help but chuckle and raise a hand to stroke her cheek. "If it helps, I've envisioned a fiery death for them many times over."

"It does. Actually, that's actually one of the worst ways to die. Burning alive, I think it's fitting they burn considering that's what they want to be done to all of the magicals and would do if given the chance." She said stroking his hair. "Sorry for talking about rape right after you told me about yours."

He shrugged. "You told me you were molested basically in every life and I still talked about my experience. It's what we endured, and wanting others to know of the pain they caused us isn't wrong to want."

"True." She smiled brightly at him. "You also can't tell me you didn't think about feeding my mother and Arnold to the dragon or thrown in the lake to be drowned and eaten by Grindylow's."

He shrugged. "I was actually thinking something along the lines of Fluffy. But you're right, the dragon and Grindylow's would have a lot more teeth, blood, and pain."

She smiled fondly at him and kept running her fingers through his hair, more than a little jealous at its softness. He didn't appear to be leaving her lap anytime soon, and she honestly didn't have a single complaint about that. "I suppose, given the horrifying nature of the last two deaths, I could give you the last of mine."

"If you want." He said looking up at her.

"Maybe," she sighed, shook her head and tried again. "Maybe it was because my sixth death was so quick and relatively painless, having been hit head-on by a semi, my next two weren't so easy. My seventh death saw me brought out by my cousin to her family's lakeside property that they used as a summer home. I used to go there all the time with them as a little kid, so I just thought we would be hanging out. However, when we got there, my cousin went to another room and came back with a gun and held it in front of me. I laughed a little, and that's when she fired at the ceiling before pointing the gun at me again. Realizing she wasn't joking had me doing as she told me. She forced me to the edge of the dock by the still frozen lake, ice thick enough to support ice skaters. She ordered me to strip, I refused. She then shot me in the leg. I complied after that. She locked an anchor to my ankle while holding the gun to my head. I was panicking after being shot and in shock and couldn't fight her back at all. No one was around as it was the winter season, so much like yours, my screams for help went unanswered."

Harry sighed and shook his head. That seemed to be the pattern for all of her deaths. No one was there, or no one was willing to help her. At least in his case, some of the time there were people around who could help, they were just slow or reluctant.

"I asked my cousin why? Why was she doing this? You know, like people do in those situations, never really expecting an answer, but I got one."

When Mal fell silent, Harry cupped her cheek and caressed it with his thumb. "And that was?"

"Turns out," Mal cleared her throat, "Rebecca's, that was my cousin, boyfriend had dumped her, saying she was only good for sex but wasn't really all that pretty. Since his parents wanted him to marry straight out of high school, as most parents did in the sect, he wanted a pretty wife, who was good in bed and give him many children. There was a whole long list of other things that Rebecca rattled off, but I stopped listening after that. What it boiled down to, was I was prettier than she was to him, and I was perfect for what his family wanted for him. Turns out, he dumped her so he could start courting me. He was working up to asking me out so he could ask me to marry him that spring at Prom."

"Is that the same guy who asked you to Prom in the last life?" Harry asked.

"Yup." Mal nodded. "Having answered my question, Rebecca kicked the anchor off the dock and I was dragged down with it. The anchor made a hole in the ice as it was dropped, and I fell through it. The water was freezing and I felt like I was being stabbed all over till I went numb. Even if I managed to get the cuff off my ankle, the hole I was dragged down through began to freeze over again. I don't know if I would have been able to break it. Soon I blacked out and drowned."

Harry was surprised to see there were no tears this time. He wondered if she'd cried herself out over her lives, then his own.

"My eighth death happened on my wedding day, to said prom date, though we decided not to go at the last minute because of my cousin's jealousy and hostility towards me. Instead, we went out on our first date, that turned into many dates. When he asked to marry me, I said yes." Mal shook her head as she sighed. "Only I never got to walk down the aisle. My sister Agatha, who was supposed to be helping me prep slit my throat. When I came back here, Rida's excuse for this death was Agatha was better suited to the groom. A perfect broodmare, which is what the groom needed. I was supposed to be a pure soul like Rida. Or so she claimed." Mal took a deep breath and smiled down at him. "And that leads us to my final death, another car accident." She looked confused. "Though I'm not exactly sure what caused it. I know it was something with my breaks, but that's about it."

"Your ex-husband cut your brake lines." Harry growled. "So he wouldn't have to go through with the divorce and pay you alimony. Another reason was so he could lay claim to all that you had." He shrugged at Mal's shocked expression. "At least that's what Tarnok said."

Mal started laughing. "Wouldn't have worked." She eventually sighed. "Everything was still controlled by Club. I hadn't been there long enough to get my own account. I could use my debit card all the time, but if I wanted to pull out money even if it was just a dollar, I had to show my ID and report how much it was back to the club and for why."

"That sounds harsh." He mused.

"The club had a very strict policy." Mal patted his head. "Which I agree with. Given how it used to be a cesspool for illegal activity; drugs and prostitutes. Ethan rearranged things so the women would not whore themselves out or do drugs while working for him. Which is why he had the money set up the way he did, so they couldn't, and if they did, they violated the contract. There was also random drug screening thrown in to ferret out drug users in case someone found a way around the financial part of it.

"A lot of us had no homes of our own, no vehicles, so the club provided both, and the rent and utilities were auto-deducted out of our accounts. If we went into the negatives, we worked it off at the club to make up for it. Which would be rather hard to do. I always had at least a hundred in my account. And that's with buying books constantly." Mal took a deep breath to avoid the usual rant she got into when it came to the club workers financials. She needed to get back to the point. "You had to be at the club for five years to get your own account and the apartment in your name. Because it proved you were a good person and could take care of yourself.

"We went along with it because a lot of us were in situations where we would be left out on the street otherwise. A few of the women were mothers, and Ethan paid for the daycare or after school programs for their kids out of the profits for the club so they wouldn't have to settle for shitty people watching their kids."

"It was for protection." Harry surmised.

"Both for Ethan as well as the women." Mal nodded. "Like I said, a lot of them were like me. Abandoned, no place willing to hire them for various reasons. Ethan would figure out what they were good at and give them a job. At least working for him was legal and we had medical insurance from the get-go. So we had to sign a contract that stated our spending would be monitored for five years, but as long as we weren't doing anything illegal there was nothing to worry about. Because we weren't close to anyone, no one outside of the club really knew the extent of control the club had."

"Ethan sounded like a great guy." Harry said, a little worried.

"He was." Mal agreed softly. "Among the best I'd ever known in my lives. I just wasn't as interested in him the way he was with me."

Harry sat up and met her eyes, "Really?"

Mal nodded. "After what my ex did to me, and no, it was a different man this time around. The former groom went after Agatha in the next life as Rida had intended. Anyway, after what my ex did, it was as if my heart had frozen over when it came to romance. I honestly believed I would never love again, or that it would ever unfreeze. Then I came here, and I was proven wrong."

He knew if he'd been alive his heart would be pounding in his chest right now, but he decided for both of their sakes, at least for this moment, he wouldn't comment about what she said there at the end. She looked mortified by her slip, so he knew it was words of the heart coming out before the mind was ready to engage with them.

"What's your ex's name? You've never said it." Harry asked curiously.

Mal pouted with a sigh. "It's a rather ridiculous name, and I have no idea why I ever loved him."

"The heart is a funny thing." Harry shrugged. "You also have to remember, I've been around people with ridiculous names all of my life." He pointed out and began to list them off, "Dudley, Ronald Billius Weasley, Albus too many middle names Dumbledore, Severus Snape, Voldemort. Remus Lupin."

"True." Mal bobbed her head before sighing. "Allen Austin Anderson."

Harry broke out laughing. "Seriously!?"

Mal nodded. "He hated the name Allen, there too many in the sect for his liking. So he modified his middle name to August and went by that. Course all of the ladies got to call him Auggie."

Still laughing Harry shook his head and wiped the wetness from his eyes. "Well now, for my final two deaths?"

Mal nodded with a smile and sat back.

He grinned at her as he spoke. "My eighth, and ninth death, I guess you could say I died from old age and complications due to being on too many potions for all of my life. But my eighth life followed that of the story you're most familiar with, the canon verse." Mal nodded understanding so he continued. "What wasn't shown, what wasn't known, was the truth of my later years. As I'm sure you've surmised, I was love potioned the entire time to Ginny Weasley, by that time Ginny Potter. However, these love potions brewed by the Weasley women, namely Molly because Ginny was terrible at potions, degraded one's mental capabilities as the years went on. They're not meant for long term use, but it was the only way to keep me ensnared."

"Which explains Arthur's one-track mind when it came to muggles and his lack of any real original thought and ambition." Mal said with a nod. "I had wondered why he never put Molly in her place and why she seemed to rule the household and was so outspoken in a society of men."

Harry nodded, glad she was understanding this and he didn't need to explain too much.

"Well, Ginny was not the potions mistress her mother was as I stated, so while Arthur's wasn't noticeable or that bad, mine was. Later on, Molly and Arthur died when a rogue Pureblood Supremacist attacked on the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts. After that, Ginny had to rely on her own skills at the potion to keep me in love with her when her mother's potions ran out.

"My mind degraded fast over the years that followed. It got to the point I could no longer perform sexually, that was the first thing to go. Then I couldn't work because I couldn't think straight and I was just hurting myself, not to mention others. The last thing that went was my emotions. I could no longer show even the most basic of emotions. In that order. Course, even before that point, Ginny had been having affairs. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew all along. Though I will give her this, she did make sure that all of our children were biologically mine."

"Did anyone ever realize?" Mal asked softly. "Did they even know what they would be looking for?"

"Albus did eventually figure it out," Harry nodded. "But by the time he could do anything about it, it was too late." He sighed. "This was also the first life that was completely restarted. All of my deaths up before that started just before my last death. The ninth was also a complete restart."

Mal shrugged. "All of my lives were complete start overs as I said, so it doesn't surprise me that a couple of yours were."

"And the molestation?" He asked in a dark tone not looking at her.

"Happened every time." Mal confirmed softly. "Though at this point, it seems like a bad nightmare rather than something that actually happened to me."

Harry turned back and grinned at her. "Purgatory has that way. It happened, but when we're here, it's like our lives were dreams, or some other person because we didn't carry our true selves into that life. Which is why after talking it through, it's easy to let go."

"Makes sense." Mal nodded. "How can we move onto a different life if we're still burdened by what happened in another? Even if we don't actively remember it, our soul does."

Harry nodded. "That I believe is why so many people are depressed or actively trying to find something better, something they've lost in previous lives. They aren't being allowed the processing time. Some of the angels here aren't doing their job right."

Mal sighed and shook her head. "Even in the afterlife people are getting lazy and not doing their work."

Harry nodded, unable to disagree with that statement as Gabriel had worried about the same thing during their drinking binge.

"Was the canon life bad?" Mal finally asked softly.

Harry shrugged, "Being love and loyalty potioned since the age of eleven really put a damper on things, but overall, compared to the others no. I wasn't allowed a chance to really become myself, or know things for myself. I was controlled by others. Sure, some part of me knew it was wrong and tried to fight, but when it starts at a young age, there's really nothing that can be done because you don't have the skills to fight it yet.

"I learned after my death that Ginny was an obsessed fangirl who only saw me as an object to have a better life. Having grown up poor, she wanted to be rich. Just like her mother. Just like Ron. Before, she thought it would be like a fairytale, and I would sweep her off her feet. She thought that's what would happen after I rescued her from the chamber. When I didn't and began to take interest in other girls, never her, she vowed that she would make me hers someday and ruin me so no other witch could ever have me or my fortune which the Weasley family so rightly deserved."

Mal sighed morosely. That's pretty much what she thought was the case.

"She and the rest of the Weasley's, that's not including Bill, Charlie, and George as they were all decent chaps, Arthur was never aware of the plots, all drained the Potter wealth." Harry shook his head. "James and Lily grew to hate me, and followed in their mother's example."

"What about Albus?" Mal asked. "You said before he figured it out, and it seems to me now that he's the only good one of the bunch."

Harry nodded. "He was the only good one. He proved as gay as his namesake and found happiness with Scorpius. Albus was the only child who didn't actively hate me and tried to save me." He sighed. "He was put down for being a Slytherin till I pointed out it was okay, but whether it was because he was gay, or because he was going to ruin Ginny's plans, I never knew, but Albus was banished from both the Potter and the Weasley families. While they could disown him in the Weasley family, only I as the head of House Potter could disown him, which I didn't. I refused. It was among the last emotions I had. I refused to do that to my son."

"I take it Gabriel filled you in what you didn't know after you died and came back here?" Mal asked him.

Harry nodded, "That's the way it always goes."

"Did the Cursed Child happen too?" She couldn't help but ask.

Harry gave her a puzzled look, "What?"

"Well I've never read the book, actually, it was a screenplay I think," Mal explained. "But it was something about Delphini, Voldemort's and Bellatrix's daughter, trying to turn Albus and Scorpius evil. Actually, she was using them to go back in time to save her father or something I think."

Harry, wide-eyed, shook his head slowly.

"Okay, no Cursed Child." Mal muttered. "Got it. So much for the rising Dark Lady."

"Oh, my ninth life had a Dark Lady we were all unaware of." Harry assured her.

Mal looked at him shocked. After everything that happened, and his canon life, who could possibly be the Dark Lady. "Who?"

"Hermione." Was all Harry said.

Mal also answered with one word. "Explain."

So Harry did. He told her all about the life he just went through with Hermione. How she knew about the potions and used them to her advantage. How she made him sterile, slaughtered the Weasley family and used a broken Arthur to sire children, forcing Harry and the world to believe that they were his.

At the end of his story, Harry sat back and Mal was staring at him with wide-eyed fury. Ginny, she could understand, she'd never liked Ginny. But the fanfictions that paired Harry with Hermione, she could see it. She could support it, because Hermione was always there for Harry, even if she was a know it all and bossy. The stories had her mellowing out because of Harry's love for her and her for him. One even hinted that it was because of the constant obliviating of muggles and muggleborns when they performed accidental magic that was to blame for "know it all" condition.

Now she could see that Hermione was as manipulative and even more controlling that Dumbledore. She kept Harry stupid so he would need her and always rely on her, as other fanfictions who put Hermione down did.

There wasn't one girl who truly loved Harry for just him? He wasn't even offered the chance to be himself!?

Seething in rage, Mal stood up, walked to the spot where Harry had punched a hole in the wall earlier. She cupped her hands together on her stomach, focusing intently until a large ball of pure light filled them. With all of her might, she threw her arm back and tossed the ball of light at the wall screaming in outrage.

Four offices, six screening rooms later, the ball finally dissolved, and many scared or concerned looking faces peered through the hole at her till they closed up again. None of them said anything or went in pursuit of her for the interruption. One look at her face and they decided it was best if they stay away. Plus, she was in Gabriel's office. If there was a problem, he would deal with her.

"Bloody Hell!" Harry yelled hysterically. Jumping up and staring at her in shock. "How long have you been able to do that!?"

"I figured it out after my sixth life. I created this light." Mal said raising her hand and light began to circle her fingers. "Rida was so proud, further "proof" her plans for me were meant to be. As she was promoted for her power and purity, so too would I be."

"No." Harry said astonished as he closed his own hand over hers, the light increasing. "That's magic."

"Wait, what?" Mal looked up at him in shock.

He nodded grinning at her. "Souls are what contains a person's magical core, not the fleshy vessel. If you were alive on a world that had little to no magic coursing through it, it was no wonder it took so long for your afterlife to manifest it."

"Rida argued it meant I was meant to be a white-winged angel like her. Pure." Mal said looking at him skeptically. "Isn't what angels have, magic?"

"Not exactly." Harry corrected. "Theirs is more of a divine grace bestowed by God. Some do wield magic having come from worlds that have magic. But no," He looked down at their hands still encased in light. "This is magic Mal."

"Can you do that?" She asked softly.

"Yes," He says, and raises his other hand and shows her a ball of light about the size of the one she created.

"How do you know so much?"

He laughed. "I read the manuals, remember?"

"I should read those sometime." She mused softly.

As she turned to look at them, she swayed and would have fallen to the floor had Harry not caught her.

"I'm pretty exhausted too." Harry yawned. "But I understand why you're more so. You've never rested before. I'm amazed you've managed to stay awake this long."

Mal, unable to say anything, pointed to where the couch should have been. Harry followed her direction and saw a large comfortable looking bed.

"Did you do that?" She whispered.

He shook his head. "Not ruddy likely. Only Gabriel can make permanent changes to his office, hence why the holes reform."

Mal chuckled weakly. "I think your angel is telling us to shut up and go to bed."

"We're adults, we don't have to." He pouted.

"Being an adult is being mature enough to admit when you need sleep." Mal smiled at him.

Harry returned her smile at first, then picked her up and carried her princess style to the bed. Mal tried to not let on how happy that made her. It made her want to giggle like she was a little girl again. As they took off their coats, and in Harry's case his shoes, they curled up under the blanket.

"May I hold you as we sleep?" He asked softly. "For some reason, I don't want to let you go."

Giving in to the desire, Mal turned and kissed his cheek, sending a tingle down both of their spines, "I want that too."

With a relieved sigh, Harry laid down, and Mal curled up in front of him. His arms wrapped around him as he played the big spoon.

For the first time, Harry found himself enjoying holding a woman as she slept. The fact that it was Mal made it all the better in his mind and heart. Ginny and Hermione made him hold them this way all the time. He never liked it, it felt wrong, but holding Mal like this, it felt right. His body wrapped protectively around hers as if they had done this a thousand times. Her bottom pressed against his crotch, he briefly thought, not for the first time, that if he had been allowed erections in the afterlife, Mal would definitely cause him some issues. Though when it came to Mal, he was rather adamant "that", would never be an issue.

For Mal, the sexual angle did not go unnoticed. Had she not been so exhausted she would have lamented about her missing the chance to be with Harry sexually. She would have given her left leg for the chance. As it was, she was too tired to even contemplate it. With Harry holding her so close, so tightly, she felt safe, felt happy. In a way she hadn't ever felt in all of her existence. She loved being wrapped up by him.

Sleep took them rather quickly. Both thinking there was no other place they'd rather be.

 **}TLCW{**

Updated on 5/5/19


	7. Chapter 7: Angels Acquisition

_**AN**_ _: Well, I gave you guys two chapters in a row, I figured this chapter could wait awhile._

 _ **For those who skipped**_ _those chapters a_ _ **brief recap**_ _:_

 _Mal was greatly abused in_ _ **every**_ _way; Harry was abused in_ _ **every**_ _way. Both, healed having told their stories and came together. They fell asleep in the same bed._

 _Also, Mal has magical power. On par with Harry's own._

 _That's basically all you needed to know._

 _ **REASONS WHY I MADE IT SO QUICK:**_ _(For those who are curious, have questions, or simply want to know why I did it that way)_

 _1) for those of us who are greatly abused, it's understandable that we carry the scars with us for as long as we live. So, I got to thinking, why would/should we carry them with us on our next great adventure? Shouldn't we be offered the chance to purge, let go, and move on? All that jazz? So that's why I created Purgatory the way it is. So that the souls have the chance to do that. Whether they like it or not. It will happen eventually, no matter how long they put it off. Such was the case with Harry. Of course, said souls pass out afterward due to emotional exhaustion. When they awake, they feel a lot better and are ready to move on._

 _2) Understandably, not every soul has been doing this, or not every soul was given the chance (Such as the case with Mal, and the above comment with Harry). I thought that would be a great explanation for some things that may come to pass in other fanfictions. As I have many ideas all centering around this couple and the many lives that they will ultimately live together._

 _3) It takes a while for people who are abused to come to terms with it. A decent portion never does. However, there are those, who manage to find people/person to unburden themselves with. While they may not be completely healed, it does start the healing process. I did this, for Mal and Harry._

 _4) I made it so quick because I needed them to unburden, and then with everything that's going to happen, focus on their future instead. I figured their lives will have enough issues to deal with without past life problems coming into play too much._

 _Also, for those of you wondering where the angels are, and what's happening outside of the room, this chapter answers those questions._

 _ **Response to Comments**_ _:_

 _ **Xucrex**_ _: Yeah, I guess you could look at what's happened so far as a prelude, but I like to think it's the start of a story. / I won't give spoilers, but yes, the "fun" is going to pick up._

 _We still have a few more chapters before we get to the actual world of Harry Potter._

 _ **Kent-Jenson and God of Al**_ _ **l**_ _: More is coming. You can take solace in the fact that I will post, at least, one chapter a month. Perhaps more._

 _In case I didn't say this before, this story will be LONG! So if you're wanting a fast-paced story that's like BANG BANG BING BANG DONE! This story is not for you. There's a lot of detail to get out and get everything in place. I hope to have it pick up the pace a little, but we'll see. I can't accurately say when, and I don't want to make a promise or say something for certain, then come out on the other end wrong._

 _So, without further adieu, I give you chapter seven, and I can honestly say, that only a few more chapters before we get to the Harry Potter World. I promise, what happens in between makes it worth the wait._

 _Thank you for returning!_

 **}TLCW{**

While Mal and Harry were falling asleep after getting to know each other rather extensively, the angels had not been stationary.

Rida, from her point of view, had not been lax in her duties as a Guardian Angel. She had seethed as the black wings invaded her viewing. On the orders of Satan no less! The Heathen Devil could do his damnedest, but she would not sway, she would not allow her charge to be swayed. Though their presence alone had influenced her charges life was evident, despite her efforts.

That **girl** was supposed to go on to become a nun like she had done, like the worthy women of Rida's mortal family had done. The breeders were such lowly creatures, they had no right to bask in the glory of heaven. Their husbands could, for they had fulfilled their duty to carry on the human race, thus earned their place in heaven.

But what had those breeders done for God? After all, it was because of such lowly women that humanity was cursed, to begin with. Even other religions said as much.

She knew the sect's beliefs all too well. For she had grown with them as her guide and lived her life by their word. She refused to be a lowly breeder, despite the many offers for her hand, as she was rather beautiful, and went into the service of God so that she might enter the glory of heaven. Many people had said it was such a waste that her beauty was not passed on, but Rida had been adamant that she enter Heaven.

She had been shocked to find herself locked in this place of Purgatory, denied access to Heaven. Surrounded by not only her fellow white wings, the Guardian angels who guided the **worthy** towards the light, but the heathen devils as well. She had seen Satan, with her own eyes. Even now her body shuddered at the mere thought of him. However much she claimed within her own mind that it was out of fear, any who would be around her when she did it, would know those shudders were not in fear.

She had grown being told that Satan was tall, lean but still had muscles from his days as a warrior of God, with bright blue eyes, and golden blonde hair. A beauty to be sure, for he was, after all, the most beautiful of all the angels. After he banishment from Heaven, he used the beauty and charm God gave him to lure innocent souls into the depravity that was his evil.

Others, the ones not of the sect, believed that the Devil would take the form of whatever the viewer found the most beautiful. Others believed after being cast into Hell his skin turned red as his body and muscles grew in girth. His legs and feet changed to something similar to a Goats with cloven hooves. With vicious black horns that grew from his head that looked to be obsidian or charred bone.

None of those descriptions matched the creature she was met with. Satan had long black hair that he kept braided down his back, his wings were similar to that of the white angel wings in texture but black in color. His wings were longer than Gabriel's, but just a bit smaller than Michael's when she managed a glimpse of him a few times. While some would have expected battle skirts reminiscent of Roman soldiers and generals, Satan actually wore leather pants, and a white cotton vest that looked to formerly have been a t-shirt cut into its current shape over his chest and stomach. Cut in the back to allow Satan's wings to flow to the floor as they dragged behind him. Still clean no matter what he happened to walk through.

He was followed by women, Rida scowled at the obvious lust in their eyes.

She would _never_ be so disgraceful.

Nor would she forget her teachings. While some things were obviously lost over the mortal years, she would not let these new details sway her beliefs. She would be steadfast, hold her head high, and renounce the Devil and his sinful ways.

It seemed even in Death, God tested her faith.

She was currently furious with the Devil, he had sent his minions to spy on her and her charge. What had she ever done to the Devil!? She had purposely avoided the being her entire existence! Even in this place, despite the initial introduction, and unwavering belief that he stalked her, wanting to make her a part of his harem of whores, he never really paid attention to her. Though any angel that tried to correct Rida's thought on this were either berated or outright ignored.

In her mind, what did these heathens know? They obviously hadn't been raised with the word of God as she had been.

Luckily she had been careful to never voice her view on this many wives Satan retained or he would have taken notice, and not in the way that Rida feared most. She knew at this point in time, she wasn't a fit enough angel to take on the warrior Satan. She intended to never be the target of his adorations. Even a pure one such as herself could only resist temptation for so long.

Rida knew going into the situation that her charge was weak-willed and quick to give into temptation. Which is why she was working so hard to cull that wretched girl's black aura from a young age. It wasn't Rida's fault that the aura caused terrible things to happen to her. Really, that was the only explanation for the _events_ that kept happening. The black aura the girl gave off infected the minds of pure and decent people, and there was no way to stop it. Though, Rida never did actively try to stop it. Enduring the pain and humiliation would diminish the black aura and teach the girl to cleanse herself. She would repeat it, enduring it, until such time she was able to accept the word of God and begin cleansing her soul. Rida firmly believed that.

The girl's black aura had to be the reason why Satan wanted her so bad. He obviously desired her for his Queen, on top of his so many concubines. Yes, she firmly believed Mal was that corrupted and evil.

However, Rida would not allow any charge of hers to fall. Really, Mal was her first official charge! Given to her by the great head angel Stephan! If she lost Mal to the Devil, she would never ascend to a higher rank of angel! And that, simply couldn't be allowed.

When Mal returned and tore up her sacred contract of rebirth, making the heathen black wings happy, she broke. She had failed Sir Stephan! She had lost her first ever charge! How could she possibly win against such evil when it surrounded her from all sides!?

Then, she heard the mention of Gabriel. She was under strict orders to not bother Stephan until after her charge had been purified enough to enter Heaven, so she didn't dare bother him. But Gabriel would make her charge see reason! Finally, there was hope at the end of the tunnel. Resolved that she had a solution, utterly convinced things would go her way, she rushed to the office where Gabriel resided.

Not for the first time, when she banged on the door of Gabriel's office, she was denied entry. She had tried and tried in the past, only to be ignored. Yet again, she met with the same result. She would have been upset that he was denying to see her on such an important subject, but she remembered that other soul saying Gabriel was in communion with Michael and the Almighty.

She knew where the Temples doors were. No soul was allowed beyond that door. If they stood before the true presence of God, she had it on good authority they would shatter to pieces. No angel at her rank was allowed beyond that door either. She was told she wasn't a high enough rank yet. Which is why she wanted to ascend as fast as possible, she knew Stephan did as well, even he, a great head angel, had not laid eyes upon God.

She reached the temple in record time, unaware that her charge had left the viewing room where they had been assigned and was now in with Gabriel's charge. The idea that Mal would leave the room never even crossed her mind. She firmly believed a soul could not leave the room they came to after their death without their Guardians permission. As she had not given Mal permission, Mal was still in the room, end of story.

Rida stared upon the large ornate doors that led to the Temple, made of diamond, but nothing, and no one, could see through to the temple within, and hearing inside was impossible, though she had tried many times. She was also punished, she remembered with a seething fury, every time for it too.

She stared with longing for a while before she began banging on the doors there.

"Let me in!" She shouted, even though part of her knew she would not be allowed entry. "I must speak with Gabriel and the Arch Angel Michael at once!"

She refused to acknowledge the fact that Gabriel was an Arch Angel as well, even if he was technically her superior. He willfully consorted with the heathen devils, as such, he was not worthy of that title. Neither was the Devil, but that was a matter for when Stephan was finally given the rank of Arch Angel. He had many plans, and she only hoped that they would come to pass. Things couldn't continue this place like they had been if they expected the universe to run perfectly.

She pouted when it was clear she was being ignored, despite the fact that she could sense the presence of both angels, as well the Almighty beyond that door.

"I am the purest, most devout servant of God!" She tried again, sounding indignant though she was unaware of that fact. "I must speak with the Almighty! At least Gabriel though Arch Angel Michael would be preferred! It's about the viciously evil disciples of that heathen Devil Satan! They have committed a most serious crime by invading my viewing room after Gabriel and the honorable Michael so graciously promoted me for my efforts for purifying myself in life and allowed me the chance to do the same with the sin-filled flesh vessel of my charge!"

Again, she was met with silence and the door did not budge one millimeter. If anything, she was repelled a few inches back. Disheartened, she went to try again, but it was at this point the lowly black wings dared defile the holy citadel! She turned and snarled at them, she pooled together her power of light, it would be enough to drive them back from the sacred doors, if not out of the citadel that stood before the Diamond Doors.

She pooled it together from deep inside of her, all that she had, all of her power, with the intent to send them packing, and lashed it out at them. It rippled away from her and her aim was true, it hit the black wings. Then, the force merely washed over them. Nothing happened, only their hair seemed to have blown back a little as if caught in a spring breeze.

The orc devil merely raised an eyebrow before leaning against the wall and waited. Not even acknowledging her pitiful attack against them. The others sat on the benches provided for those who came here to wait for an audience with Michael.

It's worth noting, that if Mal, or Harry Potter, ever attempted to do what Rida had, it would have had the effect that Rida desired. They also would have been able to drive Rida back. While others were aware of this or at least learning this as Mal and Harry got to know each other, the concept that a soul could have the power to surpass an angel as pure as Rida, never even entered her mind.

At first, Rida was shocked that her attack did nothing. She tried it a few more times before stopping with a huff. She had used all of her reserves in her first attack, the follow-ups here pitiful in comparison. They didn't even seem to realize that they were being attacked.

Yes, she thought after catching her breath, it would seem these heathen devils had a forcefield up, one she could not see or overcome. It was truly sad to be among the lowest rank of angels, unable to truly fight against the devils. How she wished she could reap vengeance upon them for her Lord God.

With a final sneer, she too stood against the wall and went into a meditative state so she wouldn't have to look upon them as she waited to be acknowledged. Having no doubt that she would be. She also waited, most eagerly, for the Almighty's righteous retribution to rain down upon them for their entry to the holy citadel.

 _The heathen devils will learn their place soon enough,_ Rida thought smugly. _God has a penchant for purging devils from his path._

However, in her meditative state, she failed to realize that this never happened. She waited and waited to feel the Almighty's power wash over her, for the Arch Angels to finally grant her access inside the temple, but neither happened, and she was left meditating.

Seething with rage about everything that had happened, and waiting for something that was never going to come to pass.

 **}TLCW{**

Gabriel and Michael, on the other side of the doors, sitting in plush recliners, both gave a sigh of immense relief when the black wings showed up. They had been listening to Rida bark at the door and bang on it for a while. For Gabriel, it was even longer as he had sensed her at his office's door when she went there first.

Beyond the Diamond Doors, Rida would have expected to see something like the inside of the church or a nunnery, similar to what she grew up attending, only made of the same diamond as the door. However, she would have been rather shocked to realize it was similar to that of a Greek temple inside. Columns of pure marble, with an airy feel, the vast beautiful cosmos surrounding the temple. Some fabric was hung between them, silk so thin one could see through it, colored rose pink with flecks of gold riddled through the fabric.

It truly was a beautiful sight to behold.

Obviously, not what Rida would have expected, and she would have had a meltdown if she did see it. But to any others who saw it, and laid their eyes on God, they would understand, and thought it fitting.

There was a touch of the modern human era to see in this large temple that otherwise looked abandoned. There was a large tv positioned between two columns, with two plush recliners sitting before it. Which is where Gabriel and Michael found themselves.

"What the fuck is that Rida talking about?" Michael asked out loud, grateful they couldn't be heard, but not caring if that little fledgling did hear him.

"I have absolutely no idea." Gabriel sighed pinching the bridge of his nose. "Though if I had to venture a guess, it was because of the angels we had watching the viewing room."

"On my orders!" Michael protested upset.

"It was the fact that they were black wings." Gabriel muttered. "Though even if they had been white wings, I think we would still be here. There would be less "Heathen Devils" and more "vicious upstarts sabotaging"."

"All the white wings refused!" Michael yelled unable to contain himself. "They can't stand to be in the same room as her, and now I understand why! None of the other angels are qualified to sit and watch the viewing of a soul, they all have their own jobs to do that are equally important to running this place! The candidates Satan volunteered for the job were the only ones who were willing and could!"

Gabriel held up his hands, "Hey, don't yell at me brother, I already know all of this."

Michael sat back and groaned as the sound of bells echoed throughout the temple and he rubbed his face where the day-old stubble of a beard was ever present on the dirty blonde angel's face. "Who promoted her again?"

Despite what Rida may believe, God did not promote the angels, Head Angels were allowed to promote angels within their own area of expertise, and it was only the Arch Angels that could promote angels to Arch Angels. Though they did have to have God's approval for that. Which is why an Arch Angel hadn't been promoted for several millennia.

"Stephan, I think." Gabriel muttered. "At least I'm sure it was him given the way she idolizes him and obeys his every command. She speaks his name with such reverence that it makes me uncomfortable. Really, a Head Angel is barely a step above a fledgling and she speaks the title as if there's only one when there are thousands."

"I was afraid of that." Michael groaned as bells echoed again. "Now Rida makes sense. Stephan and his corrupted thinking have obviously gotten worse." He looked critically at Gabriel. "Do you think she was promoted too soon?"

"Without a doubt." Gabriel nodded. "I'm hoping when I speak with Mal, I might get more information I wouldn't have otherwise."

Michael nodded himself. "Smart thinking."

"I do have my moments." Gabriel insisted.

"When you're not scared of your charge." Michael teased him watching the screen.

"You would be too if you had to face his wrath!" Gabriel cried out, not at all ashamed. "You saw him at the trial after his suicide, you felt his power!"

Michael nodded. "Yes, it was rather shocking. Even after the original events with his soul, it's still strong, and just getting stronger."

"Understatement of the afterlife." Gabriel murmured behind his own hand as he rubbed his own face tiredly.

Both stare at the couple on the tv screen in front of them waiting and watching.

"This is going to take forever." Groaned Michael as he banged his head against the headrest of the chair.

The bells could be heard again and Michael glared at the stairs leading up higher to his left. "I'll groan and complain all I want!" He shouted at them.

Gabriel chuckled as thunder echoed slightly and Michael shook his head.

"She doesn't seem happy with you." Gabriel couldn't help but point out.

"She thinks this test is a waste of time." Michael said he watched the screen. "She also said since I wanted to do this, despite her telling me it was not needed, that I needed to be patient."

"Well," Gabriel said cringing a little knowing his brother was now glaring daggers at him. "we always said the purge is a necessary part of purgatory." He gestured at the screen still not looking at Michael. "How many times have I told Harry to talk about it? How many times have Satan and I both tried? And we now know Rida never even thought to give Mal this chance, let alone let her rest between lives."

Michael shook his head, all agitation forgotten, "I see the exhaustion from here. I'm surprised she hasn't collapsed yet."

Gabriel looked towards the stairs, "I think we both know who's responsible for that."

Michael did not need to look where his brother was to know of whom Gabriel meant, could only nod.

After what seemed like hours, and a surprising display of power and emotions later, they both cried out "Finally!"

"They're finally asleep!" Gabriel sighed relieved.

"Now, for the test." Michael said with a wave of his hand.

The souls of Mal and Harry disappeared from the bed in the office and appeared in another world.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Gabriel asked softly as Michael was still setting things up. "It's clear already where Harry's heart lies, and you know Mal's soul better having spent time with her." He looked at Michael with a critical eye and could see the doubt swimming in the Arch Angels features. "God's already said it's not needed."

Michael sighed as he finished making the necessary boundaries. "I know. But I," He looked at the screen, grief written on his face. "I need to know for certain before we do this. After so long of doing things one way, and then what happened the first time . . ."

Gabriel nodded, he didn't need to be reminded of what happened the first time. He knew it still haunted Michael despite God's efforts and putting the situation right again. "Then hit play, and let us see."

With a wave of Michael's hand, he did just that. The life the two were put into played out. Despite the boundaries, and things being set up that they would marry others, as Michael had "predestined" them too, they overcame Michael's divine word and came together. No matter what obstacles were put in their path, Harry and Mal still married, and their love proved stronger than anything.

When the life was over, and the two souls once more appeared in Gabriel's office, the sound of bells could be heard again and Michael was slumped forward, his head in his hands. Gabriel was trying to keep his mirth contained as he knew Michael wouldn't appreciate being laughed at right at that moment.

While Gabriel couldn't fully understand God, he could catch a word or a phrase here or there. He looked at Michael who hadn't moved since the end of the life, "Is she singing "I told you so" to the tune of "Ring around the rosy"?"

"Yes!" Michael groaned.

Gabriel couldn't contain his laughter then, and it seemed God joined him when she was finished singing. "I'll go deal with the situation then. Should I bring you the new contract when I'm finished with the demands of the new holy couple, or simply have Raphael approve it without your consult as you've been made obsolete?"

Michael removed one hand from his head and proceeded to flip Gabriel the bird. A gesture that was taught to Satan by Michael, and taught to the mortals by Satan.

Gabriel's laughter echoed throughout the temple as he left.

Michael, with a sigh, knew he had to face the music sometime, stood up and ascended the stairs. On the second story, still in the same temple, with the same fabric, but with no ceiling this time, just the endless cosmos above them, it looked a little homier than the rest of purgatory. There was a large desk, a corner where there were tools and equipment for weaving, and more. A large bed that could have taken up all of Gabriel's office stood in the center of the far end.

But what struck Michael, was the woman who was leaning against a column. Her dress was silver, and her eyes mirrored that of the cosmos, her long ring curled hair appeared to be the same color of rose-pink fading into magenta then various blues before repeating the process. Flowing as if it were a waterfall and the colors changing and fading as it moved. Stars would spark to life in that hair and fall into the cosmos below them, or float to the cosmos above them. Michael had seen planets born within that hair and watched them die in the cosmos before falling back into those ring curls.

God turned to look at him, annoyance and mirth etched her features. "Do you still doubt my word?"

To all other beings, they would hear bells, only Michael had every fully understood her when she spoke. Satan was getting there, and Gabriel was just beginning to learn, while Raphael still only heard bells just like all of the rest.

"I told you," Michael said, knowing his argument was weak, "I had to be sure."

God rolled her eyes and looked away from him.

"Please don't be upset with me." He pleaded.

"Upset about what?" She asked as she paced away from the edge where she had been watching the world below. He knew who she had been watching over. "Your rude behavior or the fact that for the last few thousand years, no matter how many times I tell you something, you never seem to believe me!?"

Michael closed his eyes and shook his head. "I was worried for the safety of the worlds."

"And in the process, you almost destroyed two souls." She seethed. "Two souls that I specifically made to be together, which I told you!"

"They are whole again." He reminded her. "Far closer now than they were before as they carry pieces of the other's soul in the other." He glared at her. "Which is how they were able to overcome my divine plan for them."

She returned his glare. "They are meant to be, and I will not allow anyone to part them. Not even you, my love."

He sighed. He knew arguing with her was useless.

"How do we know this will not lead to chaos and ruin?" He asked, not afraid that his fear came out in his tone. "We nearly lost everything when the demons ran rampant throughout the worlds, and many are still tainted from their presence despite their removal."

"Which is why this couple," God said as she returned to where she was before, staring down, "is so important."

Realization dawned on Michael as he stared at her. "When you said you made them,"

"They are our children yes." God said softly. "Or as close to it as possible. I know we will never have biological children, but pieces of us reside in both of them."

"What have you foreseen?" He asked coming to stand beside her.

God looked at him, "If they do not save his world, the end of all of this, and worse to come."

"And if they succeed?"

God smiled. "Then the taint you speak of just might be able to be cleansed over time."

Michael smiled and shook his head as he looked down at the couple in Gabriel's office. "Life would certainly be easier if you were honest with me woman."

"Life would be easier if you simply obeyed." She snapped at him.

"True." He agreed as he wrapped his arms around her and began kissing her neck. "But you didn't make me to simply obey all the time."

She sighed contentedly as arousal grew in her. "I guess I'm not much of a Goddess then."

He laughed. "You're Goddess enough for me."

 **}TLCW{**

Gabriel exited out of the temple, while he could only speculate at what was going to happen between God and Michael after he left, he didn't want to think about it let alone voice it.

The instant he stepped foot in the citadel, he was accosted by Rida. "Sir Gabriel! These heathen Devils invaded my viewing room! My charge tore up her contract! I need your assistance to rectify this situation at once so we might get things back under control!"

Gabriel ignored her and looked at Tarnok, "The verdict?"

"The contract was a fake." Tarnok nodded. "She had one, but I will not speak of its contents. It was a fake because it didn't have the Divine Creed laced into its wording, it was quite evident. Rida has indeed overstepped her bounds, and blatantly, knowingly, and willfully mistreated her charge."

"Filthy demons should shut up about things that are not their business!" Rida spat at the orc angel.

Everyone present, much like Mal had before, had to literally bite their tongues to keep from making Gollum references.

"Enough Rida." Gabriel said firmly once they got themselves back under control, giving her a look of pure fury that silenced her, at least for the moment in shock. He looked back at Tarnok, his features the picture of calm. "Thank you for your assistance in this Tarnok, I've been so busy with my own charge, and the high security with him that I haven't been able to look into this like I should have. It will be dealt with, I assure you. Thank Satan again for me when you get back to him. I'll let you leave immediately as I'm sure he would be most displeased with me if your wings were to turn white."

Tarnok gave a huge belly laugh. "Not likely, I enjoy drinking and sex too much for that. Not sure about the rest of these lads, but from their reaction to Mal's last life, they're safe enough for now."

"Her last life," Gabriel got confused. "what?"

Tarnok manifested a folder and handed it over to Gabriel. "My report has everything you need to know, plus my own investigative work. I'm sure you'll find it rather enlightening and informative."

Before leaving completely, Tarnok turned back to Gabriel with a wicked grin, "Having white wings wouldn't be so bad. Could be worse, they could turn pink like the cherub angels." Tarnok gestured to himself. "Look at me, green skin and huge tusks, pink wings would clash terribly with me. Not to mention they would not look very good with my manly physique."

"I think you would look rather fetching." Gabriel chuckled giving Tarnok a coy smile.

"Oh stop!" Tarnok waved a hand at him before turning away.

The moment of joking aside, which succeeded in furthering silencing Rida for a few more moments, turned serious once again as Tarnok once again turned to leave, gesturing to his comrades as he walked.

"Come on you lot, you heard the Arch Angel, we've got work to do, and he's got his orders. Let's get back down to the pits to get some work done before quitting time where we can have some fun."

Their cheers erupted from them gleefully. Gabriel nodded and let them leave. Pleased to see, that whatever had happened, while they were obviously shaken and upset, they were bouncing back quickly enough. He'd have to remember to check on them depending on what he learned from Tarnok's report and Mal. While he may have watched them unburden themselves with each other, such things were designed that unless God or the angels were given permission to listen if they were not the ones being spoken to, they could not hear the conversation.

A quick glance to Rida told him she just stood there staring at the scene in shock and confusion.

Utilizing this, Gabriel looked through the folder, while he had an idea of what Mal had endured, he wasn't sure to what extent things had been manipulated by Rida or Tarnok who was allowed three interventions.

His eyes widened as he read what Rida did; repeat molestation that while she didn't organize it to happen, she did nothing to stop it or help her charge in later lives, despite there being an option to do so. Repeat outright murder of her charge because she was going down a path that Rida didn't deem right. He found himself shaking with rage. Not only because of what Mal had been through at the hands of this fledgling beside him but because of what Rida's actions had done to that world. He was rather pleased to find, that despite Tarnok's claim to the contrary, inside was a copy of the contract Rida had been forcing on Mal. Attached was a note saying a lover in Records owed him a favor, so he got a copy.

Reading it over, he saw what Tarnok meant. Oh sure, it was drawn up on official stationery. But the Divine Creed that was the binding power of every contract, which was only used in dire situations like what Harry needed now, was absent. The glow was only because it was made on the official paperwork, not a regular contract. In truth, it wasn't official or binding, till a mortal soul signed it saying they would commit to the contract. He hadn't been aware this loophole existed until Tarnok and his lover found it.

"Shouldn't we go inside and commune with Michael about all of this?" Rida asked softly having finally recovered. "I'm sure he and the Almighty will have an opinion on all of this." She looked behind him to the doors, there was a longing in her gaze as if she willed them to just open up and admit her.

"I assure you, Rida, if you step through those doors at this moment in time it will only be for severe punishment." Gabriel said in a dark tone and Rida looked at him utterly confused.

"Surely you don't believe those heathen devils over me?" She scoffed self-assured. "I'm a pure white wing and they are nothing more than the Devil's servants and slaves to his lust."

"Regardless of what you may think," Gabriel looked at her amused, "Satan has never been gay. Now he has no issues with homosexuals, but he himself only prefers to buried between a woman's legs. Or in the case of his birthday, their asses."

Rida shuddered.

"Now," Gabriel turned to her fully, the folder vanishing so it was on his desk, "You are in a lot of trouble fledging. You've been a Guardian less than a hundred years and you've already violated some of our more stricter rules than those who are far older than you! What you have done is grounds for dismal at least!"

Rida looked at him with tears in her eyes, but he could see he wasn't penetrating the deeper parts of her mind. She was still very assured what she was doing was right.

He shook his head. "Let's continue this in my office." He said, knowing if he stood here yelling at her, one, nothing would come of it other than Michael coming out and likely killing her in a fit of rage. Because while he would not admit it, Gabriel knew now that Michael was very fond of Mal, and would avenge her if he knew the truth of what she had been through. Not to mention she would be interrupting whatever Michael was up to with God. And two, Gabriel had a lot of work to do, and the sooner he got started, the better. "Both Harry and Mal are there."

Rida looked at him utterly shocked. "No, she most certainly is not. I did not give her permission to leave that room, and thus she is still there waiting. No matter how those heathen devils would have tried, she would still be confined to that room."

Gabriel looked at her as if she had sprouted another set of eyes spontaneously. "Charges are able to leave their viewing rooms fledgling. We do allow some of them to go into a separate place where they can rest a bit before their next lives. It's not heaven, but it does allow them to rest. Souls can wander around here. It's not recommended they do it without their guardian with them, but they can wander without our permission."

Rida looked at him terrified. "Then we must hasten there at once!"

On the way to his office, he was silent the whole time, he knew if he started talking, a lot worse would come out of his mouth.

Rida kept pace with him, looking completely confused. Again.

"What did I do that was wrong?" She asked as she increased her pace to match his when he sped up at the start of her question. Apparently, she had already forgotten about Mal leaving the viewing room in favor of Gabriel's office. "I was only doing the job that Sir Stephan instructed me to do. He said far too many souls are being brought among the rank of angels only to fall to lesser ranks due to lack of power and thus they become lesser angels like those gaudy pink wings, or they give into temptation by that heathen devil and his wicked way."

Gabriel had to grit his teeth against the stupidity and ignorance that was spewing of her mouth.

"Speaking of which, why were you so polite to that vile!?" She asked positively aghast that he'd done such a thing. "Sir Stephan would never have behaved in such an unbecoming manner." She said assuredly with a nod. "He took the time to impress upon me the truth of the heavens and to never treat them with anything but contempt. To give them respect is to encourage them, and we don't need their corruption further polluting our already contaminated society! The lack of God walking among us is proof that they must be brought to heel or culled!"

The more she talked, the more Gabriel was building a case.

He knew that Stephan hadn't quite accepted the truth of the afterlife, it was a common occurrence. That was why there was an educational program for the angel fledglings. It also had testing to show them which department of Purgatory they were best suited for. It had nothing to do with ones "power level" as Rida seemed to think.

However, he never expected it to be this easy to get information to allow for an investigation to take Stephan to Michael or the courts so easily. But the more Rida talked, the more and more information he got. So he kept silent and let her ramble on and on.

Eventually, he rolled his eyes. This was supposed to be Purgatory, such bigotry, and ignorance were human things, the fact that it was present here meant some things had slipped through the cracks, and he would have to work with the other Arch Angels to find those cracks and seal them shut. He supposed the God's little mantra was true, nothing could stay perfect forever. Or her other one, there is no such thing as perfect.

Which was contradictory and Gabriel still had no idea which one was true, or if either of them were true.

He knew a few things for certain: 1) Women were complicated. 2) Gods were complicated. 3) The two combined were confusing and perhaps it was better that only Michael could talk to God. 4) It seemed there was yet more work he had to do.

Gabriel hoped after Harry succeeded in his destiny, he could take a vacation.

By the time he reached his office door, he knew the couple inside would have been awake for a while, or probably still asleep from the exhaustion as they hadn't really been allowed to recuperate from yet. So, without knocking, he entered his office and went wide-eyed at the scene before him. He quickly backed out again.

"Harry, Mal, please kindly put some clothes on." He called out.

"What!?" Rida shouted incensed. "What do you mean _put clothes on_!?"

"Rida," Gabriel held up a hand, but that was as far as he got.

Rida shoved past Gabriel and burst into the office before Gabriel could stop her and began to scream at the top of her lungs.

"Modesty be damned then." Gabriel grumbled as he followed Rida in at a more sedate pace and silenced the area from the gossipers that he could see at the end of the hall.

 **}TLCW{**

Both Mal and Harry gasped awake and jumped a little in shock as they took in their state and the changes.

For starters, they were both completely naked. They were also lying in a different position. Rather than spooning together, Harry had been lying flat on his back as Mal had her head on his chest and was curled into his side.

They said nothing as they simply stared wide-eyed in silence for several moments.

"I was going to say that I had a weird dream," Mal said slowly as she sat up, holding the blanket to her naked chest. "But clearly, that wasn't a dream. Wasn't that the position we just died in?"

"Peacefully in our sleep." He confirmed, looking at her in awe. "We just lived a life together."

She nodded. "I woke up there as if I'd just woken up in Purgatory. With my memories of my previous life, but just the last one."

"I didn't have any." He said still staring at her in awe that made her cheeks go red. "I didn't remember any of my lives." He reached and cupped her cheek. On instinct, as she had done in that life they just lived, she rested her head in his hand. "But I remembered you. I remembered your face, your warmth, and how I never wanted to let you go."

She looked at him in shock and a little hopeful.

He didn't resist anymore and leaned in and kissed her deeply. Pulling back after a moment and grinned at her. "I wanted you from the moment I saw you, and that life did nothing to change my view on the matter. If anything, it made my feelings stronger."

"Should we really be kissing naked in Purgatory?" She couldn't help but ask.

He grinned at her. "I've seen you naked both young and old. I watched you grow heavy with my child and helped deliver them, love, I don't think it matters what place we are." He captured her lips with his own again. Then pulled back with a wicked grin, "It doesn't matter where we are, I want you no matter what."

She couldn't help but laugh at his eagerness. "A whole lifetime with me wasn't enough for you?"

He shook his head with a playful glare. Knowing him, more than she thought possible, she knew what he wanted. So she reared up and captured his mouth with her own this time. Initiating a deep searing kiss that saw his arms wrapped around her as her legs found their way around his waist as her arms wrapped around his neck.

They had their parts here, but they didn't work. So their mouths mated as their hands caressed and gripped each other's skin and bodies. Somehow, it felt more intimate than sex did in the mortal realm. Mal and Harry reasoned it was because they were pure souls, touching the others. It was more than any person could claim to have done with them, and it made them realize how much they wanted the other, and no one else. Why no one was ever enough for them, why they didn't want anyone else. They only wanted each other.

They heard the door open and turned to look. When Mal saw the angel, she could only assume was Gabriel she fell off of Harry, leaving him fully exposed to the Angel. Who, after staring there with red cheeks and wide eyes for a few seconds, backed out a little and told them to put on clothes.

With a grin, the two began to do just that. It wasn't hard to locate their clothes, folded neatly on a table. Before they could do more than look for their clothes, Rida had burst in and started screaming. All Mal and Harry could do was stare back at her in shock. Or in Mal's case, a little bit of horror as well.

"How dare you!?" Rida exclaimed furiously. "How dare you corrupt an innocent soul when you think the angels are not watching! Get away from him this instant you harlot!"

Rida began to rush forward, the hostile intent was palpable. Both Mal and Harry reacted in defense of the other, jumping off the bed that disappeared back to a couch as they did, hands up, pushing their magic out of their hands at Rida. The magic collided with Rida, and it was more than the little angel could handle, and way more than she could defend against. She was sent backward, and through the wall that held the bookshelves with the books, and many more walls after that.

"Oh no!" Mal gasped crossing her arms under her breasts, "I hope those books will be okay."

Gabriel proceeded to fall over laughing hysterically. When Rida stopped flying through walls, she summoned back to the room and the building was restored to its previous state, but not before many people realized what happened. And much to Mal's ever reddening cheeks had seen her and Harry naked.

"You!" Rida seethed glaring at Mal. Harry was completely forgotten now, it was clear. "How dare you attack me, you vicious wench!"

Rida stomped forward, intending to attack Mal, again. Apparently not having learned her lesson the first time. This time, Harry reacted alone. His magic allowed him to rush forward, grab Rida by the throat and pin her against the empty wall chocking her.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Harry snarled in a dark tone that promised murder. "And stop calling her those things! She's no more a harlot than you are!"

Knowing how close Harry was to actually following through with that threat of ripping off Rida's wings, or worse, ripping her heart out, Mal walked up and wrapped her arms around him. Skin to skin, one hand resting over his heart, and one resting on his hip as the arm was wrapped around his waist.

"My love," She said softly against his back as she pressed light kisses there, "let her go. She's not worth it."

Harry calmed visibly.

Gabriel, who had recovered, and was going to react but was beaten by Harry, simply stared at the scene dumbfounded. No one, not since Harry's soul had come into his care, had managed to calm Harry down from that state of bloodlust before. When he went into a murderous rage, all they could do was let him wear himself out. Gabriel had been worried about Mal getting hurt in the midst of Harry's wrath, but it would seem, if she hadn't calmed him, she would have helped him. He had no doubt Harry could have greatly injured Rida by himself, but Gabriel knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, the fledgling angel wouldn't have survived an attack from both parties of the couple.

While it would have been one less person Gabriel had to deal with, it would be a lot more work for Gabriel. So somewhere in the back recesses of his mind, he was grateful for Mal's intervention.

He watched, at loss for words, and stunned beyond believe as Harry was not only calmed by the woman but listened to her as well. Rida fell to the floor when Harry released his grip, and turned toward Mal and wrapped his arms around her in return. There was a deep passionate kiss shared before the two rested in each other's arms.

When Rida looked as if she was going to start again, Gabriel bound her, and stuck her in the corner beside the door and the bookshelves and looked back at the couple, knowing they would ignore the angel until she was brought to their attention again.

"Why don't you two get dressed like I suggested before that interruption, and we'll talk." He said with a gentle smile before adding to Mal. "Nicely handled."

She shrugged. "I was his wife, and I find myself unable to slip out of that role."

"Good." Harry said firmly as he started to dress.

Gabriel noticed the bright smile Mal had as she followed his example.

Seated behind his desk, it wasn't long before the couple was seated before him, and Rida was still glued to the corner watching with a livid expression. Gabriel too ignored her.

"Now, I'm sure you're wondering about the life you just lived." He looked at them critically.

Mal sighed. "It was rather shocking."

"I must admit," Harry said also looking at Gabriel critically, "I wasn't expecting to live another life before the one in my own world was finished."

"It wasn't my idea," Gabriel quickly said holding up his hands in the universal gesture of surrender. "It was Michael's."

"Why did he do that?" Harry asked leaning forward. "Even during the trial, Michael didn't seem to care what my soul did, as long as I completed my mission. Why would he put me through that life?"

"What does the Head Arch Angel want with me?" Mal asked fearfully.

Unconsciously, Harry sat back and took her hand to put her at ease and let her know he was there. Gabriel grinned at the gesture. Knowing it was common for the two of them in the life they just lived even before they were officially a couple.

"It was a test." Gabriel said carefully looking at the puzzled couple before him. "A test of your commitment to each other, and the bond between you."

Harry and Mal exchanged a shocked look before looking back and Harry said, "Elaborate."

"You two," Gabriel said pointing at each of them, "were actually prematched with other people."

Harry looked shocked, "But I was the one that marked her during the ritual that would match her with her future husband!"

"That may be," Gabriel said softly, "But you weren't the one who was supposed to find her that night. You merely got there before the magic could pull the actual man from his bed."

Harry sat back stunned. "Excuse me?"

Gabriel nodded. "She was meant for the Blacksmith's son."

Harry snorted, "The boy was sterile, she never would have had children and the village wouldn't have been as well off as it was by the time we died."

"True." Gabriel said with a nod. "And the woman you would have ended up with you wouldn't have cared for at all."

"Which one was it?" Mal asked fearfully.

"It doesn't matter." Harry told her firmly just as Gabriel said, "The girl who ended up the Fisherman's wife."

Mal looked at Harry curiously. "I just wanted to know, you found out who I was supposed to be with."

"Doesn't matter." Harry said just as firmly gripping her hand a bit in reassurance. "Doesn't matter who " _we were supposed_ " to end up with, because in the end, I got you first, and you got me. That's what matters in the end."

"Harry's right." Gabriel said drawing their attention back to him. "Even with no memories of the other, even with the odds pushing you towards other people, you still came together as you had here." He gave them a small smile. "You two were never supposed to meet at all, yet you did. Despite Michael enacting Divine Destiny and writing it himself to keep you two apart. He was rather vexed that you two seemed to overcome that so easily, but no one is denying the benefits of your being together as bettered that world. Without even trying at that. You two saved us a lot of work with that world."

"Are you saying," Mal asked softly, "That God never wanted us together?"

"Oh no, sweetheart, quite the opposite" Gabriel laughed, "God actually paired you two personally."

This shocked Harry and Mal.

Gabriel nodded. "God told Michael repeatedly to leave it alone, and he didn't." He looked at his door with a new realization. "I think that's why Harry was able to leave my office and find your viewing room Mal. God opened the door for him."

Harry grinned at Mal. "A match made in heaven."

She laughed nervously. "I guess so."

"To that end," Gabriel said as he got out some fresh paper, placing a pair of glasses on the bridge of his nose, and picked up one of his pens, "We shall get to business." He looked up and gave Harry a smile. "You will be very happy to know, that your main request has been granted."

"Yes!" Harry shouted. "Finally! I can actually do something!"

"You will also be given ten favors." Gabriel added. "To ensure that you succeed this time around and we don't have to keep repeating this over and over." Gabriel licked the tip of his pen and began writing in the top margin, _10_ _th_ _life of Harry and Mal Potter_. Looking at Harry over the rim of his glasses. "Just to be clear, the first favor is, in fact, Mal being able to go with you this time around." He then looked at her quizzically, "If you want to go that is. There are plenty of other worlds who would benefit from having a good soul like yours. Regardless of what that bitch told you, you are a good soul."

"This is going to sound selfish," Mal said fighting back tears, "but I want to stay with Harry. Especially after the test, and what we went through together." Tears were falling now. "Even before that test, I was drawn to him. I didn't understand why before, and now I do. I can't deny that my heart, my soul, every part of me wants to be with Harry."

Harry, feeling the same way, grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly and unwilling to let go. Kissing her head, he whispered, "Mine."

 **}TLCW{**

Rida, from her corner, was shaking with pure rage as she watched the scene before her. No amount of redirection in her thoughts, no amount of repeating what Sir Stephan had taught her, kept the truth from penetrating to the deepest part of her minds.

Her charge was being taken from her.

Gabriel himself had taken Mal from her, and she was being worked into a contract with this Harry Potter.

Gabriel believed those heathen devils over her.

Rage, as she'd never known, was seeping out of her and into her very soul. Unknown to her, her precious pure white wings, began to rot and wither away.

 **}TLCW{**

"The second favor, I've also taken the liberty of filling myself," Gabriel said as he was writing, "It's a two-parter so it doesn't take up another favor; the first part, is you will be going back with your memories and knowledge, as you requested before, but it's simply stated here. The second part and the actual second favor is that you will be allowed to take some time to spend with family and the angels so you can train in combat and amass more knowledge."

Harry looked at him shocked. "I'm going to see my parents again?"

"Among others yes." Gabriel nodded. Then looked at him firmly. "You will need to keep practicing and studying when you get back to the mortal realm so you don't become complacent or lose what we will teach you here."

"Understood!" Harry eagerly agreed and Mal grinned at him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders from her place on his lap. Knowing how much this meant to him.

"This is as much for you as it is for him." Gabriel said looking at Mal with a soft smile. "For you to live in that world, and you will need to understand certain things. We'll be able to find a way to accurately say how it is you have this knowledge when you meet the others in Harry's life without arousing suspicions."

Mal nodded her understanding, unable to say anything at the moment.

"Now," Gabriel said looking up at them, looking through his glasses this time, and Mal just saw that old solicitor from the Disney Movie the Aristocat's despite Gabriel's young appearance. "What would you like the third favor to be?"

"I want my name to be changed." Harry said automatically. "In doing this, all of the marriage contracts in my name written by Dumbledore, and/or Molly will become void."

"If you're sure," Gabriel got to writing, "But I feel I should remind you your name is actually Hadrian James, I'll add that the Potter's name is a misdirect spanning back centuries."

Harry looked back at him shocked. "What?"

Gabriel nodded looking at Harry. "Yes, the actual surname for your family is Pendragon. While you are not the immediate heir of King Arthur, you are a distant relative of his. But to keep them safe from later purging's, the family changed the name to Potter and kept the name. It also added the fact that any contracts without that name are null in void all along anyway. Which you would have known if you had been allowed to access the main Potter vaults at Gringotts or Pottermore Castle."

Gabriel was grumbling there at the end, but it was mostly ignored by the couple it was already something they'd figured out.

"Do you still want to change your name?" Mal asked.

He looked at her and nodded. "I do. While I understand that Gabriel's saying this won't be needed, I still want to just in case. Better safe than sorry."

"Constant vigilance." Mal teased a bit.

Harry nodded. "After dealing with those people, and being manipulated to the extent that I have been by those, no more. I'm not taking any chances here."

Mal nodded supportively, "Then how about the name in your last life combined with aspects of your other lives?"

"What do you mean love?" he asked her confused.

"In our life together," she reminded him, "Your name was Ares. I know that technically my father named you that for the constellation that shown that night, but I rather like it."

He smiled at her, "You think I should be Ares James Potter?"

"Well," Mal said sounding like Samantha Stephens, she really did spend too much time watching old movies and tv shows when alive on Earth. "I meant Ares Hadrian James Pendragon. Since Gabriel just told us about the Pendragon being the actual surname. Keeping the Hadrian James so as to honor your father, and so the nickname Harry would make sense and people like Dumbledore will understand the misdirect for what it was, and not ask too many questions we don't want him asking."

Harry grabbed her and gave her a searing kiss as Gabriel was writing furiously, knowing Harry just agreed to the change.

When Harry pulled back, he grinning gleefully, "That's absolutely bloody brilliant love!"

"I do have my moments." Mal smiled at him, then continued morosely. "I had thought Hayden at first. I always liked the name and planned on naming a son Hayden someday. But I know Hadrian suits our purposes better, and allow Dumbledore to have reason to believe your name is Harry James Potter, leaving out the actual first name and real surname. As we both know he doesn't want you to know your true name."

The newly dubbed Ares nodded in agreement. Silently promising Mal would have the son she mentioned, and any other child she wanted to give him. He would make damn sure of that.

Mal looked at Gabriel worried, "But what about other marriage contracts? Surely the Potter/Pendragons would use the actual names in other contracts. Would that cause us problems?"

Gabriel shook his head still writing. "One such contract will exist between Ares and whatever magical family we stick you into. Don't worry, it won't be a dark family or one that Dumbledore will have cause to question their motives for such an ancient contract."

"Not that he has business questioning them in the first place." Mal seethed.

"Easy love." Ares said rubbing her back. "We'll deal with him in time."

"Fourth favor?" Gabriel asked looking up at them.

"Change in my appearance." Ares said firmly.

"What about the eyes?" Mal asked concerned. "If you are the heir of Slytherin, wouldn't the emerald green eyes be a marker of that?"

"No," Gabriel said, "Well, not by its self anyway. While yes that is one indication, the parslemouth is the other."

Mal nodded "Understandable."

A mirror and a few dials appeared in front of Ares.

"The dials are for skin, hair, and eye color." Gabriel explained as he was writing. "The mirror is to see the changes obviously."

"Obviously." Ares muttered, then smiled at Mal. "What do you think?"

She shrugged and moved to the other chair as he pouted at her through narrowed eyes. "Mess around with it." She instructed with a wave of her hand. "I'll be the final judge."

Ares sighed and began messing with the dials. He darkened his skin up a bit more to make himself look like he got a bit of sun, but enough so he wasn't almost as pale as death anymore. While he liked the pale cream color Mal was, he figured she would be better for the look than he was.

Now for his hair, he changed the dial away from black.

"What was my hair color in our life together?" He asked looking at Mal as he turned the dial down.

"Gray." She said immediately, "Because you were a gray wolf."

He nodded, then looked up at Gabriel, "Do I have an Animagus form?"

"All magicals do." Gabriel said looking up at him.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Actually, you have three. Two are extremely rare, but not unheard of. Three was only known in the days of Merlin." Gabriel grinned. "A wolf, a lion, and an eagle. They will forever be your Animagus no matter what life you're in. Sometimes it may be one or the other, but they'll always be there. Even if you change into another animal due to the situations of that world, your inner animals will always be a wolf, a lion, and an eagle." He raised a finger, "However, like a wolf and an eagle, you will mate for life. That will be the only difference. It will also explain why in lives when you're only lions you only have eyes for each other."

Ares grinned at Mal. "Sounds about right."

When the dial stopped at red hair Mal shook her head. "You look like a Weasley, and if I have any say in the matter, you will not have anything to do with them other than the good ones."

He nodded and turned the dial down to blonde. It was a pale silver blonde, more of a dirty almost grayish blonde.

"Maybe?" Mal drawled out.

He turned the dial down to white and stared in amazement before looking back at Mal.

She threw her head back laughing. "You almost look like Riku from Kingdom Hearts!"

"So that's a yes?" He asked playfully.

"No." She shook her head drawing out the word.

He turned the dial back up and landed on a deep umber brown just a few shades down from black. Liking it a lot, he looked at Mal.

"That," Mal said with a grin, "looks pretty damn good."

He looked in the mirror and nodded. "I like it too."

"But you know what," Mal said nervously, she met his eyes. "I really love you with the black hair."

He grinned at her, then looked back at his reflection. "Yeah, I thought I would be thrilled to get rid of it, but now that that options here, I want to keep it too."

He then switched the dial back to black. He landed on what his hair was before, the raven black. However, there were darker shades. He settled on the pitch black and grinned.

"I wonder if Dumbledore will notice, and then complain." Mal mused.

"Oh, I hope so!" Ares grinned exuberantly.

"Good thing we went with this one. Wasn't Neville blonde?" Mal asked.

"Dirty blonde actually." Ares shook his head. "Malfoy was a silvery blonde close to a veela's hair.

"Well, we certainly don't want to steal their thunder. Especially if we raise Neville to new heights like we're planning." Mal said softly, with Ares nodding in agreement.

He turned the dial for the eye color and rested on red and barked with laughter.

"Oh, Dumbledore with love that." Mal groaned.

Harry kept laughing as he messed with the dial, he landed on a goldenrod color and looked over at Mal. She grinned. "There's my wolf." Then she paused and considered for a moment, "Or should it be my lion now?"

He used magic to make the changes permanent by casting away the dials and the mirror. He then pulled Mal into his lap again and kissed her deeply. When he pulled back, he grinned into her ice blue eyes, "Only if you're my lioness."

"She is." Gabriel said writing again. "Fifth favor?"

"To be at my peak health with my core unlocked so I can be physically fit as well as at my full power from the beginning." Ares said firmly as Mal stayed in his lap and they looked back at Gabriel.

Gabriel nodded as he wrote, "I'll work on how best to make those changes come about."

"Best time would either be when Fawkes heals him in the chamber or when he bonds with Dobby at the end of second year." Mal said automatically causing both men to look at her curiously. She shrugged. "Having Dobby as a personal house elf would be a great benefit for the future, and keep him away from Dumbledore. Further, when the phoenix tears hit your system, it can trigger physical changes within the magical core and appearance. I'm surprised this never came up before. Fawkes not only saved your life, but he gave you a Phoenix Blessing."

"She's right." Gabriel nodded at Ares. Then looked at the young man curiously. "Was she precognitive in her life with you?"

"If you mean she could sense danger, bad things before they happened, or hear the babies crying before they did, then yes." Ares clarified.

"Good to know." Gabriel said writing furiously. "We'll take her advice into account and do some checking. I'm pretty sure you're a partial seer Mal, if not a full blown one."

Mal looked shocked for a moment. "Okay."

"Now," Gabriel looked back at them, then narrowed his eyes at Ares, "Why don't you let Mal choose a favor. After all this as much for her as it is for you."

"I completely agree." Ares said deferring to her. "I'm surprised you haven't spoken up before this."

Mal didn't have the heart to say she thought this as all for show. Most of her believed that Ares would go back alone, and she would wait here with Gabriel while he was gone. She thought it was all a show to punish Rida for being such a terrible Guardian Angel to her. Still, they were asking her what she wanted, and there was no lying in this place.

"I would like slight metamorphmagus powers." Mal said smiling at Gabriel. "I would love to be able to change my hair color without messing with hair dyes this time around." She fingered her burgundy locks with a bit of a scowl. "I would like to have my purple hair back, maybe some other colors."

Ares cackled for a moment before grinning at her. "I think that would be a great idea." He then ran his fingers through her hair. "Though I would like it if you could find a reason to like your hair. I love this burgundy color on you."

"Arnold did too. He called me his little princess." Mal said firmly. "Later on, he made me keep my hair short because of how thick it is it was too difficult for them to maintain."

Ares cringed. "Yeah, I can see your reluctance there." Then he gave her a heartfelt smile. "But in our last life, he wasn't there, and you were proud of your hair. My suggestion would be to forget what Arnold thought of you; you've been doing that for ages anyway. It doesn't matter what he thought. He will never touch you again. Your hair is your own. You can take pride in its original state."

Mal thought about that for a moment and nodded. "You're right. I can't promise it will be right away, Lord knows what we'll be waking up to in that life. But if I could love my hair even with knowledge of Arnold somewhere in my mind, I can again."

"That's all I ask." Ares said as he kissed her cheek.

"You know," Gabriel tapped his pen. "I always intended to give that gift back to Ares." He looked at the young man. "You were born with that ability, and Dumbledore locked you on a clone of James for several reasons. Eventually, you were stuck with that appearance because it was never unlocked and you never learned to control the gift. That's why we were able to change your appearance so easily."

"I'll gladly give that up for Mal." Ares said firmly. "With my new look, which I'll be keeping, by the way, I've no reason for it. Let Mal have it so she can change her hair color to whatever she wants when she wants it." He then looked at her firmly. "Just don't expect me to shag you while you're a redhead."

She grinned at him. "Bet you wouldn't be saying that if it was candy apple red or Ariel red from The Little Mermaid."

Ares's eyes darkened, and he could feel his manhood wanting to react to that. "We'll see."

Mal threw her head back and laughed, but otherwise, let the matter drop.

"Seventh favor?" Gabriel asked.

Mal looked at Ares deferring to him. Ares looked at Gabriel firmly. "I want allies to go back with their memories to help me. Not only to end Voldemort once and for all but to bring down Dumbledore as well. And hopefully, prevent the Dark Lady Hermione before she becomes a problem again, and stop the Weasley's from love potioning before they try it again."

"I will be choosing them." Gabriel said giving Ares a pointed look before he could list off names. "No arguing."

"Don't I know that world better?" Ares retaliated.

"Not necessarily." Mal said looking at Ares. "As your Guardian Angel, and a guardian of that world, Gabriel is at a unique advantage point to know who would be better to help us. We could choose someone to help thinking it would be a benefit, but we'd actually be wrong. We don't know the circumstances of a person. Someone we think of as evil may not be, they may be under a curse, or had their memory wiped to be remade the way they are, or contracts could have altered them to be the way that they are."

Ares sighed and nodded his understanding as he looked at Gabriel. "I know you'll choose the people who will help the most and make a difference in ending the war and prevent others from happening. I'll do my best to remember that when I hear the names and hear people that I wouldn't have thought of."

Mal rubbed his shoulders in comfort and Gabriel looked at her with gratitude, knowing he never would have won that without her there. At least not as easily as he had.

"The eighth?"

"I want those blasted Horcruxes to be easier to dispose of!" He snarled.

Gabriel nodded and began writing furiously. He looked at Mal after a moment, "Any thoughts on that?"

Mal nodded. "The Goblins. They would be a huge benefit, and they are often overlooked by magical society as well as the house elves. I would suggest that the Horcrux in Ares get taken care of in the chamber, as well as the diary. Maybe have the venom pass over the scar as Ares wipes the sweat from his head before Fawkes cries tears into him to neutralize the potion." Ares and Gabriel stared at Mal in shock again. "After that, we can leave the rest up to the Goblin's once Ares can give the location and defenses of each Horcrux."

"Why the Goblins?" Ares asked softly.

"According to some fanfictions, it's why they have curse breakers and other such factions." Mal said looking at him. "Voldemort's wouldn't be the first they've dealt with, and they made a sacred law back in the times if ancient evil to rid the world of such things."

"I, . . . I guess I can see that." Ares said softly deep in thought.

Meanwhile, Gabriel was writing furiously, then looked back up when he was finished. "I suggest the last two be up to Mal."

"I agree." Ares said with a nod sitting back looking at Mal who was still sitting up on his lap. "I've requested all that I wanted to anyway."

Mal thought for a moment biting her lower lip. At least it's not her nails Ares thought remembering how she'd bitten them to the point they were bleeding in their last life when she was worried about something and her anxiety took over to the point she was in a near panic.

"I would like a freeze to be placed over my womb till we're graduated Hogwarts." Ares scowled at that, but Mal continued with her reasons not having noticed. "Once Ares and I start having sex, and let's face it with the mind of adults, even in teenage bodies, it won't take long for us to start, we won't want to stop. Given you said this is a match made in Heaven, I doubt the charms or potions would work for very long. And it wouldn't do for the esteemed Lord Potter, sorry, Lord Pendragon, and most likely Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Black too, to be a father before he's of age, regardless of his legal status in that world."

Ares sighed. "I can see the wisdom in that, and I have to begrudgingly agree." He glared at her through narrowed eyes, "We both want a big family."

She nodded. "I know, but I don't want to be pregnant on the battlefield, and we both know Dumbledore would try to terminate it."

Ares stared at her wide-eyed for a moment then nodded, "Aye, that thought never occurred to me, but you're right. He won't react well to my being with you in the first place. He needs me to sacrifice my life on the altar for the greater good, having a child is more reason for me not to. While I'm sure we'll able to train you enough to at least be able to defend yourself against him, being pregnant would be a weakness he would exploit. I never thought of that."

"Hence why I did." She said softly.

"Tenth?" Gabriel quickly asked. Wanting to change the subject and fast.

"I want the timeline moved up." Mal said firmly. "I want my music, my writing, and all of my books."

Ares got excited at the prospects. "I agree, the weapons they make the future would be wonderful to have and implement in some fashion into the Wizarding World."

Mal nodded having thought of that as well, "I know it was because of World World II and the bombs going off in London that started Voldemort's trek for immortality. But let's face it, he would have ended up on that path regardless. He desires power above all else, and to ensure he can enjoy that power, he wants immortality. He wants to be a god, and Gods can't be killed by any mortal means."

Ares stared at Mal in wonder. She really did know her stuff when it came to his world and his life. This wasn't a boy who lived fanatic. This is was a person who was invested in the world for the story its self. For all of the people, and the best possible outcome for them. If he wasn't already head over heels in love with her, he would have become besotted just then.

Gabriel was writing furiously as they talked, and when they finished, he was still writing but looked up at Mal periodically shaking his head. "You have the right of it Mal, no matter the timeline, Tom Riddle/ Voldemort would have become exactly like he is regardless, so I see no reason to not give you this tenth favor. You're also so right it's downright scary. No wonder Michael seems to like you so much."

"Why would he like me?" Mal asked perplexed.

"That's his story to tell I'm afraid." Gabriel said with a sigh.

He finished and looked up at them, then past them to Rida. Having forgotten about her, Ares and Mal turned to look and both dropped their jaws in utter shock at what they saw.

Still glued to the corner, where she was finally able to understand the difference between a fledgling angel's and an Arch Angel's power level. Despite her not wanting to admit that Gabriel was one, the proof was in her still being trapped there despite her efforts to get free. She was shaking in rage as tears from said emotion flowed from her eyes and down her cheeks. Her sight was not comprised by this, in fact, it did not appear as if she was even aware of her tears. Her lips were pursed as if her mouth had been glued shut and she was trying desperately to open them to vocalize in some fashion. To shout in dismay and utter fury the occupants of the office were sure.

As startling as that all was, what had them all three so shocked, even Gabriel, having not looked over at her this entire time, was the state of her wings. Still clad in the pale silver robe Mal had always seen her adorned in, Rida's once pure white, almost glowing wings, were now withered and rotted looking. Feathers clumped together on the floor having wilted away from her wings. Which were now bare of all feathers and nothing but the skeletal remains of her wings were left. Bone, covered in what appeared to be skin toughened to look like leather covered the bone of the wings but that was it, there were no feathers at all left.

There was blood and puss that would indicate infection, and rot in some places where the infection had festered covered the whole of them, Mal had to wonder if Rida was in tears from the pain of it all.

If a person obsessed with drawing the perfect fallen angel were to look upon Rida, they would have found their muse and the perfect picture. The front of the silver robe was still clean and blemish free, the back of it was now blackened as the feathers had rotted off and stained, with what Mal could only assume had been blood, and the infection still saturating the skeletal remains as the feathers had fallen away from the bones.

Mal looked over her once guardian angel worried and more than a little sick at the sight before her.

However, the look of pure rage that could have rivaled Ares's murderous ones, told her that in that moment, and during the whole time her wings were falling apart, Rida felt no pain. In fact, Mal was sure that Rida wasn't even aware of the state of her wings.

After getting over their shock of it all, seeing the still present, ever growing rage on Rida's face and in her eyes, Gabriel and Ares gave no indication of caring whatsoever. For Ares, in his mind, it was justice for what was done to Mal by Rida's hand. For Gabriel, it was the fate of a fledgling promoted too soon to the rank of angel, and in truth, was probably never meant to be one. The proof lay on the floor.

While all angels could feel human emotion, the white wings to a lesser degree than all of the others, they were not ruled by them as the black wings were. White-winged angels were supposed to make logical decisions based on fact, and perhaps a little emotion motivating them. Black wings tended to ignore logic and act on emotion or impulse. Only the higher-ups like Satan tended to combine both logic and their emotions when they acted. Mostly because their age had taught them discipline.

Narrowing his eyes at Rida, he knew at that moment, no matter what she was thinking or planning, it was fueled only by her rage. Again, the proof, lay on the floor, pooled at her feet. Otherwise, that never would have happened. Or at least, not as fast as it did. He had expected her wings to gain some color, perhaps gray, but to have them wilt at her feet like that, rotted in such a way, it was proof that her thoughts and intentions were along the lines of murderous.

"As you can see," Gabriel said firmly to her. "Mal is my charge now."

He glared at Rida furiously. "You are dismissed, and as of this moment on, you are _never_ to approach Mal again! Furthermore," he moved on before she had even processed the last part, "You are never, under any circumstances, to have another charge." He released her from her position on the wall, her eyes still on him. "In case you were wondering, this is your official notice of investigation."

There was a flash, and while Rida looked around confused, Mal and Ares understood what just happened. Officially, she was under investigation, and all of Purgatory knew it. Just as they now knew she was never to have a charge until cleared or demoted from her position to ensure Gabriel's order on the matter.

"Now leave!" Gabriel barked at her, the door appearing on the wall from where it had disappeared after Gabriel closed it.

Shock was the only clear thing on Rida's face before the expression of utter fury returned. Apparently not realizing or understanding what just happened. She squared her shoulders and faced Gabriel.

"Now you see here!" Rida raged. "You can't tell me what to do with my charge! And you certainly can't take her away from me!"

Gabriel's patience with the fledgling snapped. Seeing that look, Ares quickly got up and pulled Mal with him. Not behind the desk, but clear on the other side of the room, backed against the windows. Away from the two fighting angels.

Deciding to take a page out of Ares's book, Gabriel began yelling and put his power into his rage and voice.

"Shut up, you insignificant little shit!" He yelled at Rida, finally gaining her silence. "I am an Arch Angel, far older than you can imagine _and_ far more _powerful_ than you! I most certainly _can_ tell you what to do with your charge! _And_ I can take your charge _away_ from you!"

He came around the desk and got up in her face to further his point. To his immense pleasure and amusement, she was almost cowering in fear.

"For the record, you're being punished for several reasons! You forged a contract with an accomplice in Record. Whom I _will_ find and personally deal with! You forced an innocent soul to suffer a fate worse than some of those in hell repeatedly! Forcing her to suffer an incident that is among our greatest sins and punishable by a lifetime in Hell! You backed the Sinner, not the soul! Who was innocent! That Arnold man should have been thrown into the pits of hell to burn for eternity! Furthermore, you purposely derailed a world of its set destiny! Mal was supposed to break free of that cult at a young age and go on to have a few children and become the pillar that would see that cult destroyed!"

"Really?" Mal asked in utter shock, her hand resting on her womb, remembering the children she had with Ares in the life they had been together in.

Gabriel shot her a brief glance over his shoulder and nodded. His voice significantly calmer and lacking in power as he said, "Yes, your father was supposed to win you in the divorce as your mother wouldn't have wanted you when she moved onto her next relationship with Arnold."

Gabriel turned his attention back to Rida, his voice once more yelling and laced with his power as he did so. "That world has been frozen and now needs to be completely reworked by our specialists to get it back on track because of your actions! Michael himself might have to get involved, and believe me, if he does, it will mean a death sentence for you! You won't be reborn as a mortal soul to try again later, you will be slaughtered as an angel and thus die for good, no soul remaining to be punished in Hell or ascend to Heaven! You will quite literally cease to exist! Not to mention your own behavior towards me, other angels, and your previous charge, are all neon signs that something isn't right about you! Hence the punishment! Hence the investigation that will be held against you!"

Rida stuck her nose up in the air. "We'll see." She snarled. "I do believe Sir Stephan will have a thing or two to say about this."

"Your Sir Stephan is nothing but a Head Angel with a measly few centuries under his belt facing beings with eons under theirs. He has no real power here." Gabriel snarled back. "Because he's the one that promoted you, he too is under investigation. As of this moment, his Head Angel status is suspended, he can no longer promote, or demote angels, and any and all charges under his command are to be redirected to others."

Another flash, again Rida was confused, but Ares and Mal knew that Gabriel's orders had been carried out. Mal shrunk into Ares's side, and his arms came around her confused. He saw the fearful look in them and felt her shaking. Her stomach felt sour and her eyes filled with tears. There was something about this Stephan that made her scared. When she looked at Ares, she knew he understood and he nodded.

"You're dismissed." Gabriel said again taking a step back, looking and feeling much calmer. Now he understood why Ares always looked more relaxed after purging all of his anger and frustration like that. Gabriel might adopt that habit. "You should go straight to the infirmary."

"Why would you suggest that!?" Rida screamed, even more upset that things were not going her way, and that he dared threaten an angel as noble as Sir Stephan. It was her duty to defend and protect him. "I've no need to see those pathetically weak angels!"

When Gabriel said nothing and merely looked her up and down with a look of annoyance. She followed his gaze, reluctantly, not wanting to take her eyes off him. He looked at her so critically though, her curiosity won out in the end.

It was then, at last, she noticed the state of her being. Her wings in tatters on the floor looking as if they had rotted away, the skeletal remains on her back, and disgusting state of the back of her robes, that could be seen clearly from her sides.

If it hadn't been for the silencing barrier that Gabriel erected as she looked down, the other three in the office were sure they would have been rendered temporarily deaf by her screams of utter horror. Which lasted for several minutes as she cried and fell to her knees. The three waited as she gathered her feathers, and attempted to put them back where they came from. When it was clear it wouldn't work, she let them fall back to the floor sobbing in utter heartbreak at the sight. As the feathers disintegrated into dust then vanished, she got up and ran from the room.

With a twitch of his mouth, Gabriel slammed the door shut and vanished into a wall once more. No matter what Rida might try later, she would never gain access to this office, and neither would Stephan.

"I can't help but feel a little sorry for her." Mal finally said breaking the silence. "She took such pride in her being an angel and her white wings."

"Don't love." Ares said firmly, but laying a kiss on her head, turning her so she was looking into his newly golden eyes. "She brought this on herself."

"I'm with Ares on this one." Gabriel said as he sat back behind his desk. "If she had been a proper guardian angel, none of what happened to you would have, and the business with her wings would not have happened. It's clear she didn't attend a single class assigned to the fledgling angels. She's completely ignorant of the truth of this place."

"She didn't." Mal confirmed as she and Ares sat in the chairs again. "She told me once that Stephan said she didn't need to complete the schooling, despite her initially wanting to. He claimed to her that it was nothing but a process to brainwash young angels into accepting the devils among them and eventually seeing them fall to the rank of devils."

Gabriel shook his head. "How did we not see the truth of Stephan?"

"To my understanding, it's because he doesn't want anyone to know." Mal said softly.

"Rida was definitely promoted too soon." Ares said looking at the now blank wall where Rida had been.

"My guess would be five lives." Gabriel mused. "It's the lowest I've ever gone."

"I'd say three." Ares added his theory.

Both looked at Mal, and she rolled her eyes realizing they expected an answer from her. The fact that she had it, didn't stop her annoyance that they immediately looked to her. "One."

Both stared at her in shock. Unable to comprehend such a thing.

She nodded. "Rida boasted about that after my third death. She was promoted after one life. She was best friends with my great grandmother growing up and both entered the nunnery to become devote nuns. She claimed that my great grandmother fell into sin while she remained pure. If she was promoted and proved worthy, so too would I. She could correct the mistake her once best friend made with me."

That had Gabriel facepalming.

"That actually makes a lot of sense." Ares mused. "Why she was so fixated on you, love," Ares said taking her hand, "And why she defended the cult you grew up in so adamantly. She grew up in it as well."

Mal nodded. "My thoughts exactly."

Gabriel groaned. "As if my workload wasn't enough."

"Sorry." Mal mumbled sheepishly.

Ares glared a little, that was another habit he was trying to break her of. He himself was guilty of it as well in his lives. Here, however, he quickly rid himself of it, now he would have to do the same for Mal.

"Not your fault." Gabriel said as he resurfaced. "I just can't believe things got this bad."

"Has this ever happened before?" Mal asked.

Gabriel shook his head.

"That might be why then." Mal said softly. "Nothing can remain peaceful forever. There are bound to be people who disagree."

Gabriel looked at her at a loss for words. Hadn't he just thought the same thing not too long ago?

He nodded. "A good point."

"Change of topic?" Mal asked raising her hand.

"Please!" Gabriel begged.

"Why do you have an infirmary here?"

Ares looked at her surprised, he honestly never thought to ask that, and was also quite curious to the answer as well.

"The infirmary is for cases such as that." Gabriel said with a wave of his hand, indicating the situation with Rida. "As well as other injuries and such." He smiled at her, "We're not immortal, we do get injured as well. It can also be for souls who come back damaged or hurt. If they're in pieces they have to be sent to the special artisans who piece back together souls."

Mal stared wide-eyed. "I wasn't aware that was a thing."

Gabriel nodded. "Didn't you ever come back feeling bruised or sore?"

Mal nodded, "A pink winged angel came in and took care of me before Rida could send me back. Even when I signed the contract, it wouldn't take while I was in that state."

"That would be why." Gabriel growled. "A soul cannot be sent back damaged. A decree God made about two thousand years ago when souls were sent back to mortal realm damaged only to come back in pieces or not at all because they fell apart and couldn't be fixed." He sighed. "In any case, yes there is an infirmary, and it's run by the cherubs. They used to be the choir or messenger angels, such things are more or less not really needed nowadays. So they built the infirmary so they could have a useful job instead of sitting around doing nothing. Now they work as healers, and they take great pride in their work."

"The one who healed me did and tried to take me away from Rida." Mal remembered, "But Rida smacked her and chased her away."

Gabriel sighed. "That's what started the others not liking her. It was shortly after that that Michael and I asked for angels to observe her. It wasn't the final straw of her actions that led to it, but it was among the last."

"Her wings were coming in gray." Ares commented looking at Gabriel quizzically. "I've never seen that to be honest."

"Gray wings are unaligned, most usually student angels." Gabriel explained tapping his fingers on his desk absentmindedly. "It's the state of which most fledglings find themselves when they can't decide where they want to go, or their state of being can't decide between black wings or white."

"What's the difference?" Mal asked.

Gabriel smiled. "Their way of thinking. White wings use logic and a little emotion, black wings use emotion and very little logic."

"Ah." Mal said with a nod. "Regardless, that change in color is not going to go over well with Rida, much less her backer."

"No," Gabriel mused, wondering how much what she just said was a premonition, and how much was simple deductive reasoning. He decided to keep an eye out just in case. He looked down at the mock contract and took a deep breath. "Moving on to more important matters, I'll have the final draft finished within a day or two. I'll work on it myself with the Arch Angel Raphael who heads the Records department, so whoever is helping Rida in Records can't get their hands on this and make unknown changes to it."

Mal looked at Gabriel shocked, "Wait, this is a serious contract? Not a fake one like what Rida gave me?"

Ares was a little hurt that Mal hadn't realized this before. "Did you think that test life was just to benefit their curiosity and send me back alone?" Before she could answer him, he continued. "Of course, this is real Mal. Gabriel isn't one to joke, and even if it had been one at Rida's expense this place won't allow us to lie, so it wouldn't have had the same meaning and Rida would have known it was a fake."

Mal looked between the two in shock, tears once again in her eyes. "I thought it was." She said softly. "I thought you would have to go back alone since I'm not of that world."

"If this were about two thousand years ago, that would have been the case." Gabriel said softly. "However, we've started shifting souls around in the afterlife to go to other worlds to keep them from stagnating." He pointed to the ceiling, "God made us after she told us that would happen if we didn't. Michael was reluctant, and it took a, well, rather tragic turn of events to make him see reason." He smiled softly at Mal. "Don't worry, you'll learn about the afterlife while you're under my care."

He sat back and fixed her with a patient look. "Now that you know the truth, do you want the chance to back out?"

Mal looked at Ares, "Do you want me?"

"With all of my heart and soul, even before that life, we lived together." He said in a soft voice, but his conviction firm. "Having lived that life I'm not afraid to voice my opinion on the matter and what I feel now."

Mal got up and curled up in his embrace. "I feel the same."

Gabriel smiled at the couple and let them have their moment. "With that settled, how about I take you to where you'll be staying for a while, hm?"

The couple stood and followed Gabriel to the newly reformed door. Instead of going out into the hallway, it opened up on a flat piece of earth that was several miles across in all directions, floating in the middle of the cosmos Mal had seen outside the office window.

"This," Gabriel grinned, "is Pottermore. I thought it best that you two get acquainted with it while you're here so you can feel at home once you go to it in the mortal realm." He grinned at the souls exiting the castle. "And I thought you would appreciate the company."

Harry saw the crowd headed their way and grinned. "Mum! Dad! Sirius! Remus!"

He rushed forward to embrace them all while Mal followed slowly behind Gabriel who walked at a more sedate pace.

Along with the four aforementioned adults, there were Tonks and Ares's paternal grandparents who introduced themselves as Fleamont and Euphemia Potter/ Pendragon. Who insisted on being called Monty and Mia respectively.

Mal stayed away. Allowing Ares this chance to reunite with his family.

When Ares turned to look for her, he saw her some distance away and the crowd walked toward her.

"What's wrong?" He asked softly taking her hands.

She sniffed back tears. "I'm a little embarrassed." She whispered.

"Why?"

"Because everyone here is basically royalty and I'm a stripper." She whimpered.

Lily, was the one who stepped forward, gently pushed Ares aside and gathered Mal in her arms. "We saw. We know. We've been here watching everything since you came into contact with my son."

Mal stiffened in horror, which had Mia and Tonks also come and join in on the hug.

"As you spoke of your life, we saw everything." Lily explained. "We know what you were put through, and we know you did what you had to do to take care of yourself."

"And you were damn good at it!" Tonks grinned at Mal pulling back. "I swear if I go back with my memories, I'm asking you to teach me to dance."

Remus looked at Tonks shocked. "Excuse me?"

She grinned at him. "Gotta tease you somehow."

Remus reddened. "Oh Merlin, help me."

Lily and Mia pulled back as well and smiled at Mal who had tears running down her cheeks in shock, relief, and joy.

"No one here thinks less of you, dear." Lily assured her.

James grinned. "I'm proud of my son for bagging such sexy woman."

"Oi!" Ares snapped. "Hands off!"

James raised his hands, "I've got my own spitfire and I'm quite happy with her."

Mia patted Mal's cheek, "I have a distant relative who was a Veela daughter. Back when there were male Veela and the Veela traits could diminish over time. They are very sexual beings, and being a stripper is the least of what they do, and they do that for fun!" She grinned at Mal and said wholeheartedly. "Enough of this nonsense now my dear, you're my grandson's wife, and you're family. No one will put you down here."

Mal broke down. Embarrassed, and overwhelmed by the sheer acceptance and love that was coming off of everyone in waves crashing into her heart leaving no room for doubt. Not even in the life she lived with Ares, had this level of sheer positivity and acceptance surrounded her. There was little else to do but welcome it.

Ares grinned, he could see then that whatever doubts she had about herself, whatever fear she still carried from having to work as a stripper, was gone. It was in the past, and they had their future to look forward to.

"What do you say we take this inside?" Sirius asked with a grin. "I think we can use a rest."

Monty nodded. "I agree son, let's continue this tomorrow." He nodded at Gabriel, "With your permission."

Gabriel nodded and grinned at the Mal and Ares. "Go rest, get to know your family. I'll be back soon with the finished contract and more things we need to go over."

Mal and Ares went into the castle with the others. While she wanted to explore the place, they all headed upstairs and Monty and Mia pointed to a room where the two could sleep as the others all went to the bedrooms they had been occupying before. Stripping down once more, they fell asleep. This time, they were not dragged off to live another life. This time, their souls did manage to get the rest that they needed.

 **}TLCW{**

An: Updated on 5/5/19


	8. Chapter 8: History Lesson

**AN:** _I am so sorry for getting this out late. I had it all written, and when I read through it for editing, it was such an info-dump for so long that I had a hard time keeping with the chapter. So I knew for certain that no reader would be able to. To combat the dreariness and the info-dump, I completely scrapped the old chapter and began to work on this chapter anew._

 _It was a battle with my muse; you can imagine that however you want._

 _Well, we're near the end of our time in the afterlife. Just two chapters till we're done with it and we get to the mortal good stuff._

 _Thank you for your patience and continued support!_

 **}TLCW{**

Michael wasn't sure exactly how much time had passed. When he was in seclusion with God, time became irrelevant, and everyone who could bother them knew not to unless it was an emergency. While things were serious, borderline grave/ Grim, it wasn't an emergency. He trusted the Arch Angels to do their job, and as he descended back into the main temple, leaving a very satisfied goddess curled up and asleep in her bed, he saw Gabriel waiting for him.

It was time to get to work.

Rather than the viewing set up to his left, he moved to his right. Where a glass table and many chairs were set up to hold meetings. Michael sat at the head of the table while gesturing Gabriel take a seat as well.

"How have things progressed?" Michael asked as Gabriel seated himself. He was very eager for this update and dreading it as well.

Gabriel had two folders with him. He set the thicker one in front of Michael. "Thanks to information provided by Mal, we've learned that Rida is a one lifer. Apparently, she was Mal's great grandmothers best friend growing up. Rather than be a lowly breeder, Rida entered the local convent with Mal's great grandmother. Rida went onto live the long life of a content nun, but thinks her former friend succumbed to sin."

Michael met Gabriel's eyes.

Gabriel saw the unspoken question in them and nodded. "Rida was a life long member of that cult and an avid supporter."

Gabriel sniffed as he continued and Michael kept looking through the report. "Which explains why she behaves the way she does. It also explains why the standard protocol was not followed after Mal's life with you. Number one; she _doesn't_ even _know_ what the protocol is! Number two; as a former member of the cult, she sees no wrongdoing. Not in herself, not in the members of the cult. The only wrong she sees is in Mal, and in us."

"Has she been punished?" Michael snarled.

Gabriel waved his hand as if to say so-so. "She didn't seem to believe me when I told her she was in trouble. According to Tarnok, she said several derogatory remarks to him and his fellow black wings. As well as trying to repel them from the citadel. I say try because all she managed was a breeze."

"Fledglings lack that kind of power." Michael commented unimpressed. "A one life timer has no hope of accomplishing such a feat." Then he sighed. "Still, I can see why Stephan promoted her; the raw talent she possesses, she had great potential. A few more lives and our fledgling courses, she would have made an excellent angel."

"As much as I love and admire you brother," Gabriel said rather firmly, "I, respectfully, must completely disagree with you on this matter."

Gabriel then told Michael all about his walk with Rida to his office. Her reaction to Mal being with the newly dubbed Ares. Didn't even matter that Ares was willing, it was all Mal's fault for tempting him. Michael listened carefully and had to ask Gabriel to explain in more detail about Mal's retaliation and how she seemed to calm Ares quickly and painlessly.

Michael wasn't sure whether to be dumbfounded or impressed. He settled as a combination of the two and allowed Gabriel to continue. By the end of the tale, Michael was at a complete loss for words.

Understanding the reaction, Gabriel nodded. "My charges and I reacted in the exact same way." He shook his head. "I haven't seen that kind of reaction since -"

"Ancient times." Michael agreed. "It's because of poor Icarus that we had to rewrite the statue of angelhood and the minimum requirements." He growled, "Please tell me that was Stephan's only."

Gabriel drew in a long breath, before slowly letting it out while shaking his head. "As I told Rida, Stephan's Head Angel status was suspended and both are under investigation. After making an iron-clad contract so we can protect our priority charges from them with Raphael, we looked back through Stephan's records to see who asked for promotions and when."

"How long, and how many?" Michael asked trying not to sound bitter.

"Since he was promoted to a Head Angel a century ago," Gabriel sighed, "from that point till his suspension, he's promoted over six hundred angels."

"Damnable fornication!" Michael cursed.

"It's easier just to say Fuck, but my sentiments as well." Gabriel then snarled. "Since we don't promote fledglings anymore, Head Angels and Records have been taking advantage of the system."

"How!?" Michael demanded.

"Some angels in Records apparently get bored and don't bother reading the paperwork, they either just take the angels world for it, or they just sign the paperwork without question." Gabriel said showing Michael in the thick folder where the report reflected that information.

"You found two?"

Gabriel didn't need the venom in Michael's tone to know he had to tread carefully.

"That's only who we found through backtracking Stephan's Records."

"You think there are more?" Michael asked critically.

"At least as many, but they are merely the scapegoats. Someone else in Records is merely using their laziness to their advantage."

Michael checked the report and sighed. "Both angels deny being approached by Stephan himself. So's there a middleman."

Gabriel nodded.

"Any idea who?"

Gabriel shook his head. "We've looked through all Stephan has promoted; none are in Records. Whoever the middleman is, either he's not a loyal follower and is working on his own end game, or he's a secret supporter."

"Not sure which is worse at the moment." Michael muttered, with more volume, he asked, "What of the six hundred?"

"That's the interesting part." Gabriel chuckled. "Of the six hundred, one-fifty decided to return to mortal lives by their own volition.

"Another one-fifty went on to attend the fledgling courses and took various professions. Funnily enough, none are white-winged, all have at least five lives under their belts, they are not loyal to Stephan, and have not only excelled in their positions but have actually lived peacefully and not broken any rules." Gabriel met Michael's eyes. "Ephraim's wife was one if you wanted an example."

"Didn't need one, but I see your point." Michael nodded. "Emily has certainly done wonders for the infirmary, and I know Ephraim just adores her." Gabriel nodded, so Michael continued, "Alright, those angels we leave alone. However, if they mess up . . ."

"No holding back." Gabriel agreed. "Now, of the remaining, one hundred now work for Satan and he claims they're all up to snuff, but he's got them under scrutiny." Gabriel sighed, "They all have at least three lifetimes."

"That leaves two hundred."

Gabriel nodded. "Two hundred strong and loyal." He said firmly. "All have been suspended, and they did not take it well.

"All are white-winged, with one life lives, all have not taken the fledgling course where the others did."

"So Stephan has been sequestered to his Chambers, his contingency to the barracks." Gabriel finished sitting back relieved.

"Leave Stephan where his." Michael instructed. "I assume his contingency still visit him?"

"They are all in the same area. It's not like Stephan can leave his rooms, and he can only have five visitors at a time." Gabriel held up his hand to stall Michael's remark, "I realize just five is enough to begin spreading the word of whatever they have planned. But that's something we'll deal with when we deal with him. They cannot leave the barracks no matter how much they try.

"Had I moved them to other barracks, and switch others there, there would have been resistance. I don't want any more chaos than we already have. We need to deal with them in a logical peaceful manner, or they will fight with all that they have, and Stephan gets what he wants. A battle of the angels, though we both know who will win. That means two hundred misinformed innocent souls will be lost. I want to avoid that at all costs."

Michael couldn't argue that logic. "How loyal are the two hundred?"

Gabriel shrugged, "Pretty loyal, though they are subtle about it. Rida's the openly vocal one, and the only one everyone openly hates."

"I take it she's in the infirmary?"

"Much to their displeasure."

Michael nodded. "Have them run every test and procedures we have."

"Why?" Gabriel asked confused.

"To keep her as far away from our star couple as long as possible." Michael said looking through the smaller folder which contained the new contract for final approval.

"You're right." Gabriel became thoughtful, "She'll come after Mal once she's released and the truth of her situation hits home."

"I'd rather Ares not kill her before Stephan is completely dealt with and Rida properly punished."

"I see the logic in that." Gabriel nodded.

"Anything else worth noting?" Michael asked, sincerely hoping there wasn't.

Gabriel took a deep breath and Michael's stomach plummeted. "Mal, she seemed scared whenever Stephan was mentioned. She's also worried about Rida's future actions. I didn't need to ask, it was clear on her face."

"Why are you telling me this?" Michael asked confused. "We'll be able to protect them till they get back to the mortal plain."

Gabriel looked up and met Michael's eyes. "Were you aware she's precognitive?"

Michael reeled back as if struck. He glanced toward the stairs, remembering what the Goddess had told him. He let out a long breath.

"No, I wasn't aware, but I can't say I'm surprised by this development."

"Previous reaction aside, right?" Gabriel chuckled.

Michael tapped the table with determination. No more running. "Let's go find our star couple. Vacation is over."

 **}TLCW{**

Mal wasn't sure how long they slept, but she knew it was, quite possibly, the best sleep she'd ever had. As much as she wanted to continue with the fantastic sleep, better things awaited her when she was awake. So shortly after she woke, she found new clothes waiting for her. A white t-shirt with small sleeves, barely enough to cover her shoulders. It clung to her curves and had a low-cut collar, just enough to show a hint of cleavage.

The light blue jeans were also tight and hugged her hips and bum. They weren't painted on tight, but it was close.

Ares's whimper had her turning and looking back at him.

"Everything okay?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, which elicited another whimper from him. This had both eyebrows going up as she waited for his answer.

Ares had woken from a similar sleep as Mal, but as he had slept in Purgatory before, his waking didn't carry the same wonder and amazement hers had. Still, he too was rather excited for what awaited them past this room.

He had woken shortly before her, watching her sleep peacefully. He couldn't believe how lucky he was. Not only had he found his soul mate, but he had been reunited with his family. Despite he would have to leave them, he couldn't, for the first time ever, see a negative about the situation.

Then, Mal began to get dressed. In an outfit that Purgatory provided. He had an all-new appreciation for the artisans that were responsible for the creation of fashion trends and clothes in the mortal realm. This outfit was perfect on her. Nothing flashy, but it still showed how beautifully sexy she was.

Now, he saw a negative. Having lived a normal life with Mal, having been married for most of that time, he now saw a very big negative. He whimpered. Perhaps it was unmanly, but considering what was now withheld from him, he could be forgiven.

Really, any man in his position would feel the same way. He was positive a certain Grim would be balling his eyes out in his place.

Mal looked back at him and raised her left brow and asked if he was okay, he couldn't help it, he whimpered again. That raised eyebrow was a major turn on for him.

"I just found another reason to hurry this along and get back mortal shells." He groaned.

Realizing what he meant by that, she laughed and joined him back on the bed. "I know just what you mean." She said curling into his side as he wrapped his arms around her. "I can honestly say, sex with you in that life, was the best sex of my existence, and I cannot wait to get back to it."

"Maybe we can get a special case here?" He wondered as he hugged her close.

"I think we got all the special favors we're going to get."

He groaned as he gave her one last squeeze and got up himself. "You're probably right about that."

She sat up and went to the vanity to brush her hair as Ares dressed.

"You ready to face the music beyond that door?" Mal asked looking at him a little nervous.

Ares turned back at her with a soft smile. "Are you?"

"Eh." Mal said wringing her hands together as she stood and began pacing. "I'm nervous, scared, in awe of the situation. I mean, I'm in purgatory as if it was real life. I'm breathing and walking around. I'm talking with people who are supposed to be fictional characters. I'm more or less married to the Harry Potter," she held up a hand, "I know your name is changed. But the fact remains, I'm out of my freaking mind here!"

Ares shrugged. "How do you think I feel? I'm sitting in Pottermore, my family's castle, that I've to all of twice before. In both of my forced marriages, I was never here but that one time in each of them. My wives either sold it off for profit or tarnished the place doing secret experiments. In that order.

"I'm here with my family, with the blessing of the Arch Angels, who plan to send me back with my memories so I might I can save the universe. Believe me, if I could drop that world and it's sheep minded people, I would." He stood and faced her with his arms crossed over his chest. "But more startling for me, for a man who has never been in love, or believed in true love, I'm going back with my soul mate."

She smiled softly at him. "It's not surprising you'd believe that, or think like that. You were never given the chance to find love." She shrugged. "Personally, I think you would have been great with Daphne Greengrass or Susan Bones. My favorite pairings were you with Hermione, Daphne, or Luna. But I know the world we're going into Hermione is as much a villain as the Dark Lords we'll be facing."

He grinned at her. "Can't believe I got so lucky."

"Well if you two are done at your marveling," Mal and Ares turned to their bedroom door where Lily was waiting, wearing a similar outfit to Mal's, "everyone's waiting. We've got a lot to talk about and only a short time before the angels come back for your special training."

Mal drew in a deep breath and nodded slowly. Ares took her hand and they followed his mother out of the room, down the flights of stairs to the kitchen area.

"They're up." Lily said sitting down next to James.

Monty and Mia, who sat side by side turned to look at the couple and smiled.

"Why don't you two take a seat?" Monty suggested.

Mal and Ares sat. To Mal's left was Tonks and Remus, to Ares's right was his mother, James, then Sirius. Across from the couple, sat Monty and Mia.

Everyone sat in silence as they each tried to gather their thoughts.

"Harry, I mean, Ares," Remus started before correcting himself. "How's Teddy?"

Ares looked back at Remus, "Depends."

"On?" Tonks asked frantically.

"Which lifetime you're asking about." Ares explained, then looked curiously at them, "I thought the deceased got to watch over their loved ones."

Everyone shook their heads, but it was Sirius who answered. "We're allowed to view the life after the people have died." He pointed to Mal, "We only got to see her's because she entered into an unbreakable contract with you."

"Thus, making her very much your wife here as she will be in the mortal realm." Lily explained firmly, looking around the table with narrowed eyes."

"Relax Tiger-Lily," James said taking her hand, "None here have anything against Mal."

"Certainly not!" Mia said just as firmly as Lily had spoken. "I meant what I said before, and I'll say it again, how she earned a living is no different than how some Veela live their lives back at the Veela nation. I will not see my granddaughter in law vilified for something that wizards everywhere would pay large amounts of gold to see." She met Mal's eyes. "We didn't just see your last life Mal, darling, we saw it all."

Mal bit her lip to keep her tears from falling but held her head high, which made Mia smile.

"I understand why you did what you did." Mia continued, "I saw what you endured, and what was happening around you. You were beaten down, but you got up. You were thrown away, but you found sanctuary. You got up, you worked, you went home. You never did anything illegal. You took care of yourself admirably." Mia slowly stood, all the while holding Mal's gaze, "You have a strength in you that I've only seen in times of war. I've seen that strength in my son, my daughter in law, but more, I see that strength in my grandson. I know, that when the trouble starts for you two when you return, you will stand by him. Which is more than I could say for those harlots that ruined him before!"

Mal nodded at her, "Thank you for that ma'am. I just hope that I live up to your expectations." Mia nodded back then sat down. Mal looked back at Remus and Tonks, "You asked about Teddy, I know from what Ares told me, in his last life, Teddy's life was tragic. His soul bond was killed by Hermione before their bond was fully formed. This led to him being numb throughout his entire life and threw himself into work. Once he had the answers as to who and why I'd like to believe that he found some peace. I doubt it was happiness, but contentment and peace I think are what found him. As for the life where Ares married Ginny, what I know as the canon verse since there're books about it, I think he found happiness, but there was also the tragedy of losing his parents, and his godfather."

When Tonks and Remus looked to Ares, he nodded. The two sat back pensive for a moment. Tonks looked at Remus and gripped his leg. "We're not going to die this time."

Remus nodded. "Agreed."

"I think it's safe to say, minus the Potter's of course, that no one will die." Mal said looking around the room. "Though I'm sure some will, it won't be those in this room."

"I'm sure Gabriel will have a good reason as to why though if one of you isn't." Ares added.

"Well, if they go back with their memories, I'm sure they'll survive." Mal looked at Ares.

He looked back at her confused.

"Think about it," Mal waved a hand around the room. "Why else would the Lupins and Sirius be here if they weren't among those going back with their memories?"

"Because they're apart of this family?" Ares knew his argument was weak, it was what he had thought when he first saw them. Now, Mal's argument was echoing in his head.

Mal shook her head. "We're going back with people who have their memories." She reminded him. "Those who stand to help us more. Remus is important because one" She began ticking off her fingers, "yes, technically he is an honorary godfather and uncle, but more, he's a werewolf." Realization dawned on Ares and he felt incredibly stupid. "With Remus on our side with his memories leads me to number two, he can rally the werewolves to the light side, or at least drag their dark asses to the gray. Sirius," she pointed in his direction, "will also be coming back because of the Black family fortunes and political clout they hold."

"And me?" Tonks asked curiously.

Mal looked back at her, "For comedic relief."

Everyone laughed, and Mal smiled at them all before turning back to Tonks. "In all seriousness though, I've read books and seen shows where a werewolf loses their mate, and it's not pretty. If Remus were to go back with his memories and you didn't, he would have the knowledge you wouldn't. He wouldn't bring it up with you because of how noble he is, but more, you wouldn't be his Tonks, you wouldn't be his mate anymore. You'd be a mere shadow of the woman you are now. That would send Remus down a dark road in his heart, and later he would be easily manipulated. Be it by Dumbledore or Voldemort I couldn't say, but his lack of mate would be a serious weakness in his heart and mind, and there are many who would exploit that."

Tonks looked at Remus worried. He nodded. "She's right."

Mal sat back having made her point. "I suspect there will be many going back with their memories intact, friends, family, I suspect a person in the DMLE to help clear Sirius of the crimes he'd been imprisoned for." Mal tilted her head in thought. "Perhaps Bones. She's the Director, and she has a prior connection to the Marauders having gone to school with them. She'd have the means and the political clout. Yes, Bones in the DMLE." She bit her lip as she thought over the characters, and who might bring more help than even she had initially thought. "I also suspect we have allies in those who were former enemies."

"What makes you say that?" Ares asked curiously, and seriously worried about who from the Dark side would be joining them. He wasn't sure he could play nice with all of them.

"Because they can give us something that even our new found allies cannot." She said softly looking back at Ares, "Insight to Voldemort." She bit her lip again. "Depending on who they are, they'll probably have political clout and their family fortunes as well.

"We're going into this with not one, but two Dark Lords. Obviously, the most commonly known will be Riddle, aka Voldemort. However, the unknown one will be Dumbledore. We'll need factions from all sides to aid our battles." Mal said looking around. "And that means from the Dark, Light, and Gray families." She looked at Ares. "Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Greengrass or Malfoy approach you the moment we return."

Monty cleared his throat. "Mal, you wouldn't by chance be clairvoyant, would you?"

"Uh, well, um," Mal's cheeks turned red and she looked away.

"Gabriel said as much." Ares said, watching carefully at her reaction. "He said a partial seer, but I think you've got the right word for it."

Silence rained in the room for a moment as that tidbit of information was digested. It was now clear to everyone, why this woman was matched with their boy.

"Damn!" Sirius whistled before grinning at Ares. "How in the hell did you find this one!?"

Ares laughed. "Got bored and decided to go for a walk."

"Then he found my viewing room where I was strip dancing for a bachelor party." Mal added.

"That's a story for the great-grandchildren." Monty laughed.

Mal found herself inhaling deeply again to calm herself before blowing it out slowly. She looked around the room and the people in it. "So, what do we do now?"

"I think it best you get acquainted with Pottermore." Monty said as he looked at the younger couple. "Both the layout and its history. I think today we'll tour the inside, and since it will take quite some time, we can take a rest and talk about the history of the place. Tomorrow, we'll tour the grounds, explain what we need to, then come back inside to discuss the people from that world."

"And once the angels get here?" Mal asked nervously.

"I already know I'll have combat training." Ares said looking at her. "I won't force it on you, but think you at least need to be able to defend yourself."

Mal nodded. "And the rest of the time?"

"James and I will teach Ares what he needs to know about being the Lord of Pottermore and his role in the Wizengamot." Monty said firmly.

Mia met Mal's eyes, "And I will be teaching you about being the Lady of Pottermore and your role in Wizarding society as well your role of supporting your husband."

"James and I will both be teaching you magic." Lily said smiling at Mal. "And Ares as well when need be."

"Sounds like a plan." Mal smiled rather excited at the prospects.

 **}TLCW{**

So began their little reprieve from mortal life and demanding angels, but their time was still filled with learning. And there was a lot that Monty, Mia, James, and Lily had to explain to the younger couple before the real work began.

Normally, this information would be given over the child's life, but they were getting it all in a couple of days. No one would be able to help them once they returned to the mortal realm, so they had no other choice.

First, was a tore of the small castle that was christened Pottermore. Ares, having been there before, and lived for a brief moment in time in both of the last lifetimes when he reached adulthood, didn't necessarily need the grand tour, but he went along anyway to absorb new information.

Mal took notice now at what everything was made of. Outside, she remembered the dull gray stone pattern that made up Pottermore's outer walls.

They started with the basements, and by basements, Mal learned it wasn't a misspoken word when they said basements, they meant basements. The floor was the same dull gray stone as the outside structure, but the walls were granite.

Pottermore had five sublevels.

On the first, there was a potions lab; a fully stocked and functional potions lab Monty and Lily made sure to inform the couple. At least the one in the mortal realm would be. It was also properly ventilated. As soon as a person stepped into the room and the lights came on, the ventilation system would kick in before any work began.

Cabinets lined the walls. Some would hold ingredients, some would hold premade potions, one held storage for cauldrons and vials for potions, and the last one would hold many books based on the subject. However, the rarer ones could be found in the Pottermore Library.

Each cabinet potion ingredients and premade potions were charmed with expansions and could be fully stocked. Meaning no more could be stored once it was. They were also spelled with various stasis charms and enchantments meaning its shelf life was halted for however long they were in the cabinets. The drawback for this was any potion withdrawn had to be used within forty-eight hours or it would expire rather rapidly.

Mal was fascinated by it all and looked forward to her lessons with Lily about potions. Ares, did his best to bite his tongue. Not having a great experience with potions class, he wasn't looking forward to the subject in his temporary afterlife.

Across from the potion's lab was a fully armed dueling chamber. Equipped with dummies, weapons, protective gear and more. This, excited Ares a great deal, and he looked forward to the dueling lessons with his father and Sirius. Mal looked around the room with unease. She didn't think this would be a subject she would good at.

The second sublevel was storage. It held three rooms, all of them charmed to be expanded on the inside, and held many centuries worth of old furniture and clothing. This, to Mal, was a regular basement, at least what she was used to when it came to basements. Despite the items not being there, Monty was able to give them an image of what it would look like in the mortal realm once they returned.

"As you can see," Monty said with a sigh. "Everything is saved, very rarely is it thrown out."

"Why is that?" Mal asked looking at Monty. "Why was nothing ever sold? Or given away?"

Monty shrugged. "It was either given to relatives or moved to another family home. However, after the Potter massacre, as the generations purchased new furniture, the old was moved into storage and never left."

"Ares, my love, your family is a bunch of hoarders." Mal found herself saying after seeing the third room of expanded junk.

"They certainly put Petunia to shame." Ares agreed.

"I know we won't necessarily need it," Mal said looking around, "but we might want to look into selling most of this."

"Galleons or pounds?" Ares asked curiously.

"Pounds." Mal answered quickly. "While all of this may not sell for much in the Wizarding world given how far behind on the times they are, all of this is antique. The clothes alone would fetch a hefty price for museums and private collectors. And don't get me started on the art and furniture. That way we have massive amounts of money in both worlds."

"Those were my plans as well." Lily said wrapping an arm around Mal's shoulders. "That way we had a source of money no matter where we were and could buy whatever we wanted or needed. I managed to do some, which saved our hides a lot while in hiding."

James nodded. "We had to go muggle for all of our shopping, meaning we couldn't use wizard money. I was grateful she talked me into selling a bunch off. We should still have that account in the muggle bank. Or at least," He looked at Ares, "You should. Should have had at least a hundred thousand pounds left."

Ares whistled impressed. "How much did you two sell?"

Lily shook her head. "Not much, just six pieces of furniture, believe or not."

"Sweet." Ares grinned. "I could put that to good use."

"Unless Dumbledore seized it and handed it over to Petunia and Vernon." Mal said softly, staring at the rooms but not really seeing the image anymore.

"What?" Everyone asked.

"From what I understand, Vernon is a simple salesman. From what I saw in the movies and understood from the books, Petunia and Vernon were used to a particular lifestyle." Mal said as she kept staring ahead unseeing. "I suspect that Dumbledore may have bribed the Dursley's with the useless, to him anyway, muggle money to keep you. That, and embezzlement."

"Embezzl-" Ares looked at Mal, and turned her so she looked at him, he noticed her blank expression and unfocused look in her eyes. "You think?"

She nodded. "Many stories have him doing something similar. It all boils down to greed. Petunia and Vernon want power, they can't magical power, so they take what they can, where they can. Power over you for one. Petunia also knows of the wealth of the Potter family, her motives for getting it are her own. In the meantime, she uses Vernon who embezzles and stolen money from you to keep her satisfied."

Mal blinked and realized she was facing Ares, not the room anymore. "Did I say something wrong?"

Ares hugged her close and shook his head. Having seen a prophecy made before, and seen Luna talk in her weird way, he knew a prediction when he saw one. Words utterly failed them all at that moment.

As the projected imaged faded from the rooms due to the shock they just received, Mal looked at Monty and Mia, "Please tell me if there is anything you want to keep before we get to the mortal realm."

Mia shook her head. "Anything on this level is up for selling. Anything we want to be saved is already in the vaults."

"Vaults?" Mal repeated, her voice dropping a couple of octaves in her confusion and hoping she didn't understand that right.

The third and forth sublevels, were indeed, vaults. Much like what Ares was used to seeing in Gringotts.

These were not magically expanded, hence why these sublevels held six rooms each. All filled to the brim with treasures. Each room labeled so any Potter would know what the room held.

The on the third sublevel, three rooms held gold, nothing but gold, and three held nothing but family jewels. All jewels. Not attached to anything, just rubies, diamonds, sapphires and more, laying about on the floor or trunks.

On the fourth sublevel, two rooms held enchanted artifacts, two rooms were filled with the Lady Potter's jewelry, and one room held family heirlooms that were too precious and rare to leave the protection of Pottermore. Not even Monty was sure what all was in there because he only went in there a few times.

The last room held the Wardstone. The true Wardstone. Apparently, there was a fake somewhere. If it was triggered, the true Wardstone would activate a fidelius ward to keep certain areas locked down and some items, such as books, and certain rooms, inaccessible. Only the Potter family ring and a certain key could get into this room.

Monty promised when they got to Lord's office, he would explain it more.

On the fifth sublevel, there were a series of prisons cells. This sublevel was adequately called The Dungeon. Mal wondered if these cells would have occupants in them someday.

Suddenly, she saw flashes of images, of people, in cells. Many images passed before her eyes. Death Eaters, the Dursley's, Dumbledore, the Weasley's, and more. Possibilities or certainties, she didn't know, but she had a feeling, someone was going to see the inside of the dungeons.

The walkway between the cells eventually led out to a secret tunnel that would open up outside the wards at the rear of the property for the family to escape if needed.

All of it was connected to a spiral staircase, with openings to the sublevels. Mal wasn't sure she could understand how it was done, but she chucked it up to magic and didn't try to apply logic to it. It would give her a migraine if she tried, she was sure.

Monty and James made sure to show Mal and Ares how to access certain areas of the sublevels, and what passwords were necessary. Most locks on the vaults revolved around family blood, and the family rings. Once Mal's blood was added to the Wardstone and magic recognized her as Lady Potter, she could access whatever she wanted with ease.

"Did your wives have access to this?" Mal asked Ares softly as they walked back up the stairs.

"Ginny no." Ares said with a shake of his head. "We never discovered further than the first level of the house. Hermione," he shrugged, "to be honest that's all a blur because of the potions, and I couldn't tell you."

Mal shook her head. "The more and more I learn, the more horrified of them I am."

"You and me both." Tonks added softly from behind them.

"More so for you, I imagine, because you knew them." Mal said looking over her shoulder at Tonks.

"No." Tonks said softly in a numb tone. "I obviously didn't know them."

Mal didn't know what to say to that, she fell into the silence that had fallen over them as they continued ascending back to the first level.

 **}TLCW{**

Back on the first level, the exploration and descriptions for the functions of each room began.

The entryway held two massive staircases on either side of the entryway, made out of polished marble. The flooring, that extended through the whole of the first level was polished granite.

To the left of the entryway, and pass the left side staircase; the kitchen could be found. The official backdoor was attached to the back end of the kitchen leading out to the grounds. Just off to the side was the informal dining room for simple family dinners. There was no revolving doors, just an expansive opening in the wall that would have separated the kitchen and informal dining room. This section had white marble countertops, and with ebony wood cabinets, table, and chairs to match. The walls were painted a pastel golden color to offset the ebony.

Monty explained all of the floors except for a few places would have the ebony wood furniture as well as the flooring itself being the ebony wood.

Back in the entryway, between the two staircases, to the left, was the formal dining room. The table was deep mahogany, chairs to match with white cushions on the seats, with the same pastel golden color for the walls.

Between the staircases, to the right, was a large formal parlor. With plush looking couches and chairs, all in a pastel brown color. The walls were the dark ebony wood, polished, but unpainted, with a few shelves for knick-knacks and books. A large white marble fireplace stood in the back of the room.

There were rugs in both of the dining rooms, in the entryway, as well as the formal parlor. Each was different and it's design and texture fitting the purpose of each room.

Mal hadn't been aware carpets or rugs could do that. She was impressed with the statement each one made.

The entryways said, "Welcome to this castle, we don't want your feet to be cold."

The informal dining rooms said, "Just relax, we're all family here."

The formal dining rooms said, "I am expensive, and my design is dizzy to look at. Admire me!"

The formal parlor, said the same as the formal dining room.

Course, this was all in Mal's imagination, and she would bolt if the floors started to talk. When she voiced this out loud, everyone laughed hysterically.

To the right of the right staircase, was the very large ballroom. As promised, the floor was the same as the rest of the first level, and much to Mal's imagination's relief, there were no rugs. The columns that were positioned in a diamond formation around the ballroom, were the same white marble they'd seen before. Instead of walls, the ballroom was encased with glass. Some of it stained, some of it clear. Ending it all was a very large chandelier hung from the ceiling to provide light.

Most of the first floor was for the guests. Though it held no rooms. Only those close to the family stayed the night. Hence why everything on the first level was for the guests. It was a show of power, wealth, and provided decent entertainment when there were balls, dinner parties, or even meetings both business and of the political nature.

"As you can see, other than when we eat, we pretty much spend all of our time on the second levels." Monty said blowing out a breath seeming as if he was winded after walking and talking for so long. "The staircases are also warded so that only a select few can ascend them. Same with the stairs leading to the sublevels. Either by special invite or more permanently depends on their entry in the ward book, which you'll learn about soon. Now, these wards are nothing permanent, such as the wards that are tied to the Wardstone, which I will explain on how to do that later on. These wards are applied directly to the stairs themselves and can be removed with a bit of work. Sending off an alarm to the Lord and Lady of Pottermore. It lets us know if someone is trying to overextend their invitation while attending a ball or dinner. In the middle of the night, it lets the people on the higher levels know to get to the secret passageways and get out the castle."

"Why though?" Ares asked looking around at the splendor of his past and future home. "I get the wards and everything, but why go so far to keep people on the first floor."

"To keep the enemies at bay." Mal said coming to stand beside them. "If the family spends all of their time on the second level, then any who come into the first level, don't know anything beyond what the Lord and Lady want publicly known. Such as if the Lady is pregnant, or taking care of the newborn, outsiders wouldn't be allowed to ascend and create trouble if that was their goal."

Monty pointed to Mal. "Listen to your wife. She's right."

"We Potters like our privacy grandson." Mia chimed in. "You do as well, do you not?"

Ares glared back at her. "What do you think?"

Mia smiled at him. "Then surely you can understand why we keep most people at bay. Only a select few are allowed into our personal lives. As we ascend and later when we start to talk about people, you'll learn why that is."

Ares nodded his understanding and acceptance.

 **}TLCW{**

Both staircases came up the entryway on the second floor, so it didn't really matter which staircase was chosen. It was, as they said, all for show and power.

Gone was the granite flooring, instead, as promised, the ebony wood dominated the floor with a deep mahogany carpet trailing a path before them, the flooring peeking out along on the outer edges. The doors and their frames were the same as the floor, while the handles and other fixtures were all gold. The walls were painted a deep red to match the carpet

On the second floor, there was a small dining room. For quiet late-night dinners, or for the children when they were small during the parties.

They were also shown the Lord and Lady's offices. They were side by side, connected by an opening bookshelf that made up the wall between the two. Both had to open the bookcases in each room, to pass through to the other. So if the Lord wanted into the Lady's office, but the bookcase was locked, he'd have to go to through the front door, and vice versa. It was added in when a Lord didn't think he talked enough with his Lady while they worked during the day.

In the Lord's office, they were shown to a special coat of arms made from gold and jewels.

"Behind it," Monty said opening it up to reveal a small cabinet with a round metal ball, a leather-bound thick ledger, and a smaller ledger of what looked to be dragon hide, inside. "Now, these are just blank copies that Gabriel was so gracious to make so that I might explain it to you and you understand." He took both out and set them on the desk, where Mal and Ares watched him critically.

He held up the leather-bound ledger. "This, the fake Family Charter, it's a copy of the real one, just minus the important parts. Such as our full list of names and titles, the full list of our allies, and a full accounting of our holdings. It's all updated through magic." He set it down on the desk positioning the metal ball in front of it. "When you update the real Family Charter, you will want to configure the ball to its recording function, it will then copy the relevant information from the real Charter. You then place the metal ball on the fake, and it will dispel the modified formation."

He looked up Ares and Mal. "I'm sorry my dear, while I trust you, only the Lord will be able to do this."

"Blood magic." Mal nodded. "Only those of bloodline can alter anything."

Monty nodded and carried on.

"This," he held up the ledger, "Is the way to keep track of who has access to Pottermore, and how." He opened it up and showed the three different sections. "The first, is the temporary admittance, such as guests for balls, dinners, or business meetings. The second is intermediate admittance, where people can ascend to the second level. Meaning they have access to the Lord and Lady's offices, the informal sitting room, and most importantly, the library. But," Monty waved a hand, "We'll get to that later.

"The third portion of the ledger is those who have full access to Pottermore. The Lord and Lady, their children, etc. I can't tell you who not to admit once you get back." Monty sighed, "All I can do is stress that you do not invite people into the full access unless you know for certain where their loyalties lie. I've gone to the extreme in the past and got an unbreakable vow, or something similar."

"A vow on their magic, life, or both." Mal said understanding.

Monty nodded. "Yes, exactly." He looked at Ares. "You have to understand, we have just cause to be this paranoid. The Potter Massacre was caused by a fellow Potter who thought he had been cheated out of his wealth and position."

Ares nodded. "I understand. To be honest, after living the life I did, I have no desire to allow everyone full access to this place."

"I can think of a few redheads that I don't want to have any access to this place at all." Mal said firmly. "Or a bushy brunette."

"Right there with you, love." Ares growled.

"And the ball?" Mal asked.

Monty grinned holding out the ball in his hand offering, "Tell me, my child, what do you see when you look at this ball?"

Mal took it in her hands and looked it over. It had several markings on it, and she realized certain areas could be pressed into, and the lines on the ball meant its sections could be twisted and turned to make new patterns. She was so immersed looking at it that Ares had to guide her into her seat.

"I-" She shook her head and tried again. "I've seen this before."

Monty looked concerned, "Where!?"

"Treasure Planet." Mal said softly.

Everyone looked at her utterly confused.

"It was a movie." Mal explained as she turned the ball over in her hands and smiled brightly at it. "It's based on the tale Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Only instead of a piece of paper and sailing the oceans, it's this metal ball," Mal said holding it up, "and it takes place in outer space. With a variety of alien species and characters. It was one of my favorite movies growing up."

Sirius clapped Ares on the back. "You said the timeline was sped up right?"

Ares nodded. "She wanted her music and books."

"Does that include movies too?" Remus asked following along Sirius's train of thought.

Mal nodded. "I would think so, and yes, I will show it to you if it's out."

The Marauders who would be going back alive settled back with a grin.

"Anyway," Mal said looking back at the ball. "This was the map to get to Treasure Planet. People thought that was its only function. However, it also opened the portal gate to other planets, and most importantly, the treasure's hiding place in the center of the planet."

Ares grinned. "Sounds wicked."

She rolled her eyes and her face fell into her palm. "Oh, Gods."

"What!?" He asked indignantly.

She resurfaced and glared at him. "I have a feeling you're going to get a product idea for flying, and probably more."

He grinned. "Gotta contribute to society somehow."

She sighed and looked back at Monty, "If I had to hazard a guess, this is what controls the temporary wards around the house, and the only way to access the true ward stone is by using this to open the doors. Be it through the ball itself, or certain combinations applied directly to the ball before it's inserted into the proper place."

"Right again. This is the key that I was talking about earlier." Monty nodded. "It records the real family charter in order to recreate it should it ever be damaged or lost. It also modifies the information and updates the fake family charter." He held up the bigger ledger as reference. "It's key function will open the way to the real ward stone. The real family charter has instructions on how to use this. It's kept safely hidden in the library and I'll explain where and more on the matter once we get there.

"This cabinet holds the key and the fake family charter. However, the key will not work for anyone not of Potter blood or marriage. That," He waved his hand at the opened crest, and the bookshelf it was built around it. "Holds the pathway to the fake Wardstone. Which is hidden behind that bookshelf. If the fake Wardstone is in there is triggered into becoming active by someone who is not of Potter blood and magic, whether it be by overpowering, or with ease, the fidelius ward will be triggered on the real Wardstone, it will lock down all of the things that we want to be kept safe and guarded."

"But why would people come here first?" Ares asked.

Monty grinned. "Because most of the ward stones for the Pureblood homes are hidden behind their crests or in the Lord's office."

"And that both are right here," Ares began.

"Any witch or wizard would logically deduce the ward stone could only be here." Monty chuckled.

Mal nodded her understanding of the matter. "I take it the key is also how blood is added to the Wardstone, both the fake and the real one. So appearances can be kept if the fake is triggered, and we don't have to travel all the way down to the true stone to accomplish our desires of adding family to the wards." She tapped her fingers on the desk. "That's also why the admittance ledger exists. So it's easier to admit and dismiss people without all of the travel."

Lily came up behind Mal and hugged her tightly. "Yup, she's a keeper."

"But, my question is, what about the ball?" Mal asked as she handed it back to Monty. "Surely finding it in the cubby behind the crest people would wonder what its purpose was."

Monty grinned at her, before glancing at Lily. "I agree, a keeper." He narrowed his eyes at his grandson. "She asked a very important question, do you by chance have an answer?"

Ares grinned. "The house elves. They would hide it away if anyone broke into the castle. They also wouldn't give it to anyone who was not of Potter blood. Despite their marital status."

"Well, that answers why Hermione wasn't able to really control this place." Mal sighed with relief. "No can without the key."

 **}TLCW{**

The left side of the second floor was the offices of the Lord and Lady. It held many books and large desks, with sitting chairs for meetings and such. With a staircase on the back left corner heading up to the third level.

Across the hall from the offices, on the upper right side, was the informal sitting room. Again, with plush furniture, throw pillows, and blankets. It was a place to gather and talk to friends and family. They learned that it was in this room that Christmas was held. Due to its size and familiarity. It was so quaint, so homey, that Mal could see it.

With a tightness in her chest, and tears threatening to fall from her eyes blurring her vision slightly, she could see it. Her and Ares, surrounded by friends and family, it was a tight fit for the adults as the children scurried as fast as they could through what little open space there was.

She blinked when Ares took her hand and the image faded.

"I saw it." She whispered.

He grinned at her. "Can't wait.

On the far right, was the beginning of a highly known, highly sought after, Pottermore Library. The many, many, shelves matched the floor. Seeming to simply rise out of the floor as if carved from the same block of wood. They housed several thousand tombs. Though, the most noteworthy thing about the library, it was three stories.

The first floor of the library had tables with marble tops, and plush armchairs pushed into corners with end tables between them. No bookshelves touched the walls, despite the numerous number of them and what looked like a mini labyrinth towards the back made by the bookshelves, and there was a good reason for that. Glass walls like what the ballroom had continued upward to the first level of the library. So natural light could seep into the room and the occupants of the library could gaze upon the landscape of Pottermore when they weren't involved in a book or studying.

Mal could see Hermione there; studying, reading, and loving every inch of this library. Now Mal could understand why Hermione kept this place to herself and not sold it off as naive Ginny had. Ginny probably couldn't access anything here and in a fit of rage sold it to a Dark Family for a lot of money.

A marble staircase with black iron railing ascended up to the second level, where those walls were enclosed with the cream color painted on to make the layout seem brighter. These books were simply lined straight, almost like domino's, though Mal would never dream of knocking them over. In the back, she could see a long table, with matching chairs, while in the corners in the back were the plush armchairs the first level had as well. Two to a corner. Though while the first level of the library sported a few couches in front of the windows, the second level had none.

A staircase ascended from that level to the third where the third level of the library was completely enclosed and magically locked behind a thick door with silver trimmings. Only a narrow passageway protected by black iron railing would prevent people from falling. The door to the third story library was located in the center.

Monty walked them through the whole of the first level of the library, explaining the layout as he went. The end of the labyrinth brought them to a little sitting area used by the Lord and Lady of the house when they wanted a quiet place to read, or needed to research something away from spying eyes of family and friends. This area was not warded to keep people away, so what could be studied here was limited.

At the front of the library, there was a pedestal, with a registry of all of the books in the library. You simply wrote the name, topic, or author of who you were looking for, and the registry would find those books for you. Magically, the shelves would rearrange and the ones that carried the texts the searcher desired would be pulled out so the spine was exposed, and was slightly illuminated for easy finding. It was a genius set up in Mal's opinion.

Monty and James went on to explain that the books on the first level were open to the public. Books that could be bought anywhere, both muggle and magical alike. Children's books, school texts, and more could be found here.

"Basically, there is nothing here that can't be found somewhere else." James finished with a long breath. "It's all public approved, and kid-friendly. At least you know, tots through the fourth year curriculum and stuff along the same lines."

"The staircase here is warded much like the grand staircases back in the entryway, foyer, however, you want to address that room." Monty explained stepping up the staircase that led to the second level of the library. "However, while those stairs are warded separately, these are tied to the Wardstone. Only those on the full admittance list in the ward book are allowed up here. Intermediate are allowed access to the first level."

On the second level, there were more advanced books. Such as the school texts for the fifth year and beyond. OWL and NEWT courses. Most importantly, the Potter and Pendragon family libraries. Mostly their history, inventions and how-to guides, and journals pertaining to such things.

Mal could see why only family or those who were trusted were allowed to come up here. She didn't blame the Potters at all for the setup.

On the third floor, Monty explained the door would only open for those added to the Wardstone via the blood of a Potter, or by marriage, and only with the family rings. There was also an age restriction, and that was part of why blood was used as a lock on the door. It tested for the age. No potion or charm could bypass this lock. There was also an intent base ward if a Potter by marriage or blood attempted to get into the room forcefully or with the intent of doing harm unto others with no remorse, then the door would fade and all access would be revoked to the person forever.

Inside the room, the walls inside were lined with the mahogany shelves, a thick cream carpet, a long mahogany table, with matching chairs, and two leather chairs. The room was about the size of the bedroom Ares and Mal shared, so there were a lot of books, and the room was spacious, but the books and knowing what they held, had Mal captivated.

It held the family magics of the Potter's, the Pendragon's, and the Peverell's. As well as the Peverell family library. The true Family Charter was sitting on a pedestal in the back. Further spells and protections were on it, but if one was determined and patient, it could eventually be cracked open and used by others.

"What do you want to bet that Hermione kept this place just so she could access this room?" She asked softly.

"No bet there to make." Ares sighed as he walked further in. "Her obsession with knowledge and the desire that all knowledge should be shared would have driven her barmy."

Mal nodded. "Yeah, I can see that. However, with all of the steps and fail-safes that I've seen, I'm positive she didn't get to this room. She probably got access to the second level, and the fake Wardstone, but not here, and not the places the true stone locked down. She was likely looking for the permanent Wardstone right up till she was separated from you and incarcerated."

Ares shrugged as he walked back out closing the door behind him. "Doesn't matter now." He joined Mal at the railing and looked down at the first level where the family had gathered after Monty explained everything to them. "She's never going to come here again."

Mal rubbed his back in comfort, "I hope so my love. I hope so."

Ares sighed. "I remember coming here." He paused for a long time, just watching the family below. Mal continued to rest her hand on his back in comfort as she patiently waited for him to continue.

"I, uh," He swallowed, his throat very dry. "I was standing by the door both times. Ginny and Molly had to fight to get to the second level. In my vaults, my father left instructions on how to gain access to this place, but because they weren't allowed into the wards, let alone loyal to me, the book didn't show them everything. So they could only instruct me to do what the book did show them. It took some time, but they finally managed to crack the second level and get up here. They tried, and both were repelled and injured pretty bad. If it weren't for my quick actions, they would have died. I remember a dark voice telling me to just let them die. I realize now it was my fighting against the potions."

He sighed hanging his head. "With Hermione, things were similar. She was repelled, but I just stood there," he waved his hand at the door. "looking like some daft cow. I didn't have a thought in my head that was original. I might as well have been Imperiused."

"With her knowledge and skill at potions and pretty much everything else, I don't doubt it." Mal said softly. "But it wasn't your fault."

He nodded, "I know." He shook his head. "Hermione ordered my help, so I helped her."

"What happened afterward's, with Ginny?" Mal asked.

"She sold the place, calling it Dark and dangerous." Ares growled, then chuckled. "Lucius spent his entire remaining fortune from both his vaults as well as the Lestrange's. After being here a week, the place exploded." He grinned viciously at Mal. "Guess he triggered the wrong ward."

She shook her head at his antics, but a small smile crept upon her face. "Come on, might as well get back to the others. Until we get to the real thing, we've seen about all there is to see in this library."

Meeting up with the others at the bottom, Ares looked his grandfather in the eyes. "I swear to you grandfather Fleamont, I _will_ get here as soon as possible. I will access that third library and start studying. I will be the best Lord that I can be for this family. I've failed you twice, there will _not_ be a third time."

Mal came up, wrapping an arm around him before taking his hand firmly in her own. "I pledge the same. I will work hard to be the best Lady of Pottermore that I can be."

Everyone looked at the two of them proudly. A small golden glow surrounded the couple, though they didn't see it, cementing their promises into their very souls. The previous generations of Lord and Lady Potter's knew their legacy was in safe hands.

 **}TLCW{**

They left the library and followed the staircase in the back left up to the third level of Pottermore. This, where the bedrooms were kept. The master bedroom, where Mal and Ares were staying, and the various bedrooms that were for guests and the children. Each end of the hall had storage for linens.

Mal examined each room and realized each room had different styles. The master bedroom had the promised furniture to match the floor, an iron four-poster bedframe woven into Celtic knots for the head and baseboards. Over the top hung a sheer white canopy, draping down on all four posts, tied to their posts with a golden rope.

White marble decorated the tops of the vanity and little bedside tables. It was the constant medium in the bathroom, granite tiling making its return.

Silver and gold handles and etchings could be found everywhere.

All in all, it looked like a bedroom that would belong to the Lord and Lady of Pottermore.

The rest of the rooms were styled differently, and Mal was told as they had children, each room would change. So there was no need to decide if she liked them or not. Satisfied, they turned to the staircases. Of which, there were two, one heading upwards to the fourth level, and one heading back down to the second. As they'd yet more to explore, they were headed up to the fourth level.

"Do we have to use cream colored bedding?" She asked Ares.

He shrugged. "Why?"

"Because I would like to see something else there." She looked around, "I would like to see it with a pattern if possible. Like golden leaves with vines tying them all together, or something."

"Okay," he drawled out slowly, not really caring, but still compelled to ask. "Why?"

"As I said before, it's too plain." She shrugged. "Anything but dark blue."

He gave her a curious look. There was something to that comment, it was way too specific. "Why?"

She shook her head. "I just, don't think it would look in here is all."

Her voice raised a couple of octaves, and Ares now knew there was a reason for it. He grinned, "Why?"

She turned and glared at him. "Nothing."

"No," He continued grinning, "there's something there. Tell me."

She glowered as she looked at the floor. "You'll laugh."

"I promise I won't."

She shook her head. "You'll laugh anyway."

"I promise Mal!" He insisted, "Now come on, what's so bad that you don't want dark blue on our bed?"

He really didn't care either way. Hell, he'd slept on rags on a piss poor excuse for a bed, he truly didn't care. She could have plum purple with tacky red hearts all over, and he wouldn't care. Okay, he would, he was male after all, he would raise a stink about that. Thankfully he knew Mal wouldn't pick something like that.

There was something to this blue thing, and he wanted to know.

"It was something I caught a glimpse of as a child." She said still not looking his way. "I'm not sure if it was a movie or a show."

"What does this have to do with blue bedding?"

"I'm getting there."

Ares shut his mouth, and just let her say it in her own time.

"In the thing, a girl was in her underwear, reclining on the bed, the guy was standing off to the side, I think with his hands behind his back." Mal swallowed, and Ares was getting the feeling this was going to good. He spared a glance at his family, who were patiently waiting by the stairs, but were listening in nonetheless.

"She's reclined on the bed, posing all sexy like." Mal sighed. "Suddenly this fleshy tentacle seemingly coming from nowhere wrapped around her ankle. She looks to the guy, but his face is stony and offered no help. More tentacles pop up, wrapping around her neck and waist. Slowly, she's being dragged into the center of the bed, kicking and screaming. By the end, she's completely gone, and the center of the bed opens up, revealing teeth, and tentacles, and more. The guy yells something into the bed and that's where I walked away."

Ares blinked. Then blinked again. Thoughts, words, failed him. When they did come, all he could say was, "Huh?"

She sighed and looked away, "I know, I know, it's crazy, but I don't want blue bedding because it reminds me of that scene from, well, wherever it's from. Hell, I don't even know if the bedding was blue, I just know I saw blue, I saw a bed eating a woman, and that earned all of my NOPE!"

Later on, he would defend that he tried, he really did. It started off small, just a crack of a smile, a stifle of a snort, suppression of a chuckle. It was at that point, he couldn't hold it back any longer, he burst out laughing so hard he collapsed to the floor. When he looked, James, Sirius, and Remus weren't in much better shape.

"Laugh it up." Mal snarled, then she thought of something and she had to follow it. "Though, it might be possible."

That gained Ares's attention. "What!? You're off your trolley love, there's no way that's possible."

She put her hands on her hips, her left eyebrow raised as she tilted her head to the side and looked down at him. As sexy as it was, Ares had a feeling he was in for it now.

"Tell me, what do you know about DND? Specifically, their monsters."

Lily gasped, then fought back giggles, and Mal knew that Lily was aware of where she was going with this.

Ares shrugged, "A little, nothing much, why?"

She grinned viciously, "Do you know what a Mimic is?"

"Oh! I do! I do!" Sirius exclaimed excitedly. "We used to play that! Lily got us into it, and a mimic is something that takes the form of inanimate objects, such as chests or wardrobes or something, and when people get close, they eat them!"

"There's more to it, but in a nutshell, yes." Lily agreed.

Mal crossed her arms, Ares could be forgiven for a moment as he became distracted by her rather large bust. Shaking his head back into the moment, he watched as Sirius's expression of excitement slowly faded into horror.

"Oh, you don't mean-" Sirius backed away a little in fear.

Mal and Lily grinned wickedly.

"I'm going back, and I have a lot of knowledge of things that shouldn't exist." Mal said in a sinister tone. "Meaning mimics could very well exist when we go back."

Ares looked between his wife and mother, then to his uncles, "Well shite!"

"Oh bollocks to that!" Sirius shrieked. "I am not going back to some shambolic world with a creature that could be my bed and eat me!"

Mal was now on the floor with laughter.

Ares stared at her for a moment then realized what she did. She turned something that was fuel for teasing and future pranks, into something that no one would touch.

"Clever." He grinned at his wife.

She gave him a wink and followed him up to the fourth level.

"Anything else, I should know about?" He asked before the tour began. "Other ridiculous fears?"

"You ever see Child's Play?"

He nodded. "Bits and pieces."

"Bride of Chucky?"

He shook his head.

"Well, it was a sequel. He reunited with an old girlfriend who brought him back. Said girlfriend was later killed by Chucky. Anyway, at one point, they're at a motel, and the ceiling is a mirror, she threw a bottle of champagne at it. Shattered, killing the couple on the bed." Mal said seriously.

"Okay," Ares once again drew out the word. "So, no blue bedding, and no mirrors above the bed. Got it."

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?"

Ares shrugged. "I've listened to Luna talk about her creatures and things for years. I've also been married to a couple of different kinds of crazy. On the scale of things, living without blue bedding and sex mirrors on the ceiling are perfection by comparison."

Mal's laughter carried them through the last of the tour of Pottermore. Half of it was normal attic space. Mostly it was old paintings that were sent up here and covered over. The other half was a work out room with an attached showering area. Lily had been the one to convert the space so she could stay in shape and keep her children in shape as well. She wanted an active family, not a lazy one.

No one dared argue with her.

 **}TLCW{**

The group retreated back to the informal sitting room that she was now calling the family room. Sitting down on a plush love seat, curled up with Ares, she thought about the whole of Pottermore with a soft, loving smile. She was positively giddy. There was no other way to describe this emotion.

Sure, every little girl dream's of living in a castle at one point or another in life. With Prince Charming and true love. Pottermore certainly looked the part for it. Well, she looked at Ares, she didn't have a Prince Charming. More like a Lord who had more in common with Ciel Phantomhive than he did with any Prince Charming's she was aware of. She quickly looked away before he caught her staring, she wasn't willing to say that thought out loud yet.

The heart of the matter for her, was yeah, even she had fantasized about being rescued from her family, her world, and living in a castle like a princess with her true love. Well, that wish was granted, or it soon would be. And that left her with the giddy feeling.

Ares was also feeling similar. Perhaps not giddy, but definitely in awe, and exhilarated. He couldn't wait to get back to the mortal life and settle into his home. At the first opportunity he could, he would move into his ancestral home. With a sigh, he realized, that might take a little bit of time. What with Dumbledore on his ass all of the time.

Seated in chairs, Monty and Mia were facing Mal and Ares. Lily and James, shared a love seat as well and were to the couples right. Tonks, curled into Remus, was on a couch to the couples left, while Sirius occupied the only other chair that was available.

"You will be able to expand and add furniture however you please." Monty said with a smile. "Pottermore gets updated every few centuries. I was the last one to update it. Which is probably why some of it looks more modern. Despite being purebloods, we like to keep on top of the more popular styles for the rich in the muggle world."

"I was going to say, I'm surprised that you have furniture that's very common from the time I'm from." Mal said, "Which was about twenty, to thirty years ahead of you guys."

"Different worlds, love." He smiled at her. "I guarantee you that in some places my world exceeds yours."

She shrugged. "I can see that."

Given the number of secrets this place held, and lengths her new family went to keep them, she was compelled to know:

"Is it actually called Pottermore, or does it have another name?" Mal asked critically looking back at Monty and Mia.

"No," Mia shook her head. "The castle was already commissioned by Moira Potter's grandfather to be built, so when it was finished before she was born, it was named Pottermore for the family."

"And to keep up appearances, the name was never changed." Mal concluded. "Added to that, names have power, and I take it the Potter's were powerful in their own right."

"You ever hear the story of Robin Hood?" Mia asked quizzically.

"Which one?" Mal snorted. "There's the cartoon version where he's a fox. There's the Prince of Thieves movie starring Morgan Freeman and Kevin Costner."

It was only after she answered, she realized they wouldn't know who those people were.

Still, Mia snorted herself. "Prince of thieves is apt. That's what the Potter's were. They stole from the greedy and villainous, and what they didn't keep, they gave to the people who needed it most. Robin Potter, was the inspiration for Robin Hood, as he started the whole blasted thing. Muggle, magical, didn't matter to that boy, he'd rob them blind if they got too big for their britches."

Mal gave a hearty laugh and fell against Ares in her mirth.

"Now," Monty said pressing his fingertips together to make a tent, "we've come to what is the most important part of our day, our discussions. We'll start today with history. When we get tired, we'll all retire for the night. Tomorrow, a tour of the grounds, and a discussion of people to be wary about." He met Ares's eyes, "I'm certain you can already guess at a few, your bride as well."

Ares nodded before looking down at Mal. She shrugged. "The two big ones I think would be Malfoy and Dumbledore. The Lestrange's as well, but I'm not sure about that one."

Monty grinned but said no more on the subject of people. Well, people from the timeframe they would be returning to, anyway.

Monty began his tale, further back than Mal initially expected.

He spoke of a time where the world and the ways were dark. Perhaps not evil, at least not completely, but they were dark. Magicals, of all species, roamed the earth and controlled it with a firm hand. Then, evolution and ice ages happened. Even with magic, several species became few in number, and many were forever changed, if not rendered extinct.

No-mages, muggles, were Neanderthals and were barely given the time of day. Monty went on to theorize, that as the species evolved, and became more intelligent, magical species began to breed with them because they were beginning to die out little by little. By the time the witches and wizards had amassed their numbers again, the cavemen had advanced themselves a bit more, and their appearance was the same as the Witches and Wizards now.

"I personally think it was because of natural advancement, magic in the air, and the breeding with some species, such as elves, or a desperate witch or wizard." Monty explained in a clinical tone.

"Why isn't this taught?" Mal asked. "Is there no history to back this up?"

Monty smiled. "There is very little written record of this. But there is a written record, and I'm sure you can figure out where."

Mal nodded and settled back down, so Monty continued his tale. Going through the ice age and then through to the history of the Founders, Hogwarts creation, and more. He explained then just how many names were in their bloodline, and how it should be relatively easy to find the others through their family registry.

Mal and Ares were already making plans on how to get at least some of this information out into the light for the Wizarding World. They both agreed, even a little of this information would be enough to tip the scales before the battle was even waged. If the public was receptive. Though Ares had a counter for that, if the Boy-Who-Lived were to publish something from the ever hidden, ever secretive Pottermore library so it was available for the public, they would be lapping it up faster than Hermione would with a new book.

"I do get why all this is needed, given the names that are involved in this family. Especially the founders, even though they aren't proven yet. But may I ask, how?" Mal asked Monty a little unsure of herself. "The fake family registry, the real one, the fake Wardstone, all of it. How are you able to pull off this misdirection?"

Monty grinned at her. "You don't need to embarrassed, my dear. As a matter of fact, as the future Lady of this house, this actually something you will need to know." He made sure to glare a little at Ares, "You will need to know this as well."

Ares snapped to attention and gave his grandfather the service he was due.

"Now, I will not reveal all to you." He gave Ares a piercing look. "You will have to learn of it on your own via the true family registry, and the Lord of Pottermore's hand guide. Which are on the pedestal in the third library."

Ares nodded. "Agreed."

"Now, what I can reveal to you, is how we are able to pull off the duel names and no one is able to realize it."

Monty sat back and stroked his beard for dramatic effect. Something Mal knew for what it was, and not as a form for deep thought those present in the room thought it to be. Mia got her eye and rolled her own before smiling at her husband.

"This was back before Gryffindor's daughter married into our family." Monty said seriously, making sure Ares was paying attention. "Eustis Pendragon was engaged to be married to a Moira Potter. He moved to what is now Wales with her and took her last name. Both sealed away the Pendragon's true name, only to be revealed later on. We are Potter's truly in blood, but Eustis only claimed the name in word only, he never had magic change his name for him. On the other side of the galleon, Moira never took the name Pendragon by magic either. So while the world sees us as Potter's,"

"Magic sees you as both Pendragon and Potter. Giving you the duel name." Mal finished with an understanding smile. "I like it. Makes it so no Potter - Pendragon can ever be forced into a contract or unbreakable vow against their will. Sure, magic may flash with recognition as you have Potter blood, but it won't hold as you are also magically named Pendragon."

Monty grinned and turned that grin on Ares, "I like this one! I couldn't have found a better wife for you if I tried."

Ares grinned at Mal as he caressed the back of her hand he was holding with his thumb. "My thoughts exactly."

Monty kept his grin as he looked back at Mal. "Exactly right my dear, hence the fake family charter. It's for our protection against unwanted marriages should the Lord pass before the next one was able to be taught what it was they needed to know. Case and point," and he pointed at Ares before continuing. "Now the fake charter will work for the thief, for a time. They will be able to make contracts, alliances, and such. It is charmed to give the flash of recognition that a deal has been made. However, and this is the big thing here, when the real family charter is enacted by the Lord, which all Ares has to do is stand at the pedestal, put his hand on the charter, state his full name, his parents, and his grandparents; since he has to go back to the last Lord that was instated, and James never got the chance to."

James nodded off to the side admitting that he hadn't.

Monty sighed disappointedly as he continued."By stating his father's name, and my full title as Lord, he's claiming his right of inheritance. As such, all contracts will become void and the magic will vanish from them. Further, a notice will appear to the Head of the DMLE with a copy of the fake contracts, with a notice of theft, and a demand to look into it. Because as Purebloods, situations such as this are given priority until which time the matter is either settled out of court or resolved after court proceedings."

There were no doubts that Dumbledore still had the fake and that he was using it "on behalf" of the Potter's as Ares's guardian and Regent to the Wizengamot.

Mal shook her head, "So that's why Dumbledore has a sense of security about these matters. As far as he can tell, the Charter is working for him. He likely thinks it's because he's Ares's magical guardian and he now has control of Pottermore, certain sections excluded. He likely believes once Ares dies, he'll gain access."

"Unlikely." Monty sighed. "I don't know if it's still on there, but I was told by my grandfather there was a self-destruct somewhere in the wards. If all the Potter's in blood die, then Pottermore will self-destruct. Or if it was triggered by some idiot breaking into the fake wardstone."

Ares chuckled. "Oh, it's there." He met his curious grandfather's eyes. "My first wife, Ginevra Weasley, sold it to Malfoy. I don't know how he managed it, but later he blew up with this place."

Monty wasn't sure whether to laugh or to cry at the circumstances. Given the situation his family currently found themselves in, he offered a sad smile.

Mal sighed and shook her head. "I know Dumbledore is on that list of people you said to be wary of, and I know you have reasons why," She shook her head again. "I just wonder how much work it will take to get his closest supporters to see the light about him when we get there."

No one offered anything on the matter, as she knew this was a topic for tomorrow. She just hoped by saying this, they might have some ideas for when they did talk about this matter.

Ares was greatly amused by the drastic misconception and misdirection his family had used to con the Wizarding World for years. He saw no reason to change that. Though he knew for the sake of his future, some of the Potter-Pendragon secrets would have to come to light. He knew the Pendragon tag, and likely the Founder's tags would come to light, but he would fight tooth and nail to keep the Peverell a family secret. So no more Hollow Hunters would come crashing at his door.

"Before we retire for the night," Ares began as he leaned forward his elbows resting on his knees, and his hands folded together. "I know those vaults in the sublevels are empty here, but is there anything I need to add extra protection to immediately upon my return? Just in case Dumbledore is close to cracking them."

"No." Monty assured his grandson. "What vaults that fool has access to has nothing that can't be replaced. Only some gold, and mostly old furniture, the fake Wardstone, and the fake family charter is the only thing he should have been given access to. Though it wouldn't take him long to realize the Wardstone is a fake.

"However, by the time you get back, and considering when you'll be going back, it wouldn't be worth it to add the protection. If you go too soon, it will tip our hand and reveal that you know more than you should. I think you should speak to your wife and come up with a plan as to when it's best to make a trip there."

Mal and Ares shared and look and she nodded. It was something to talk about later. But now, it was time to sleep. The yawning coming from all directions were proof enough that their weary souls needed rest. Considering some were still going to head into battle, they needed all the rest they could get here. Knowing that they wouldn't completely rest once they were stuck in mortal coils again.

 **}TLCW{**

"Do you think you'll be happy here with me?" Ares asked as they readied for bed.

She looked back at him with a bright smile and nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yes! I can't wait to start living here!" Then she frowned a bit. "I'm not exactly looking forward to all of the stairs every day and night, and I can see why your former wives eventually made you buy a smaller house for them to live in. I know it's only because we're in Purgatory that we're not winded all of the time. But this," Mal waved her hand around the room, indicating the whole of Pottermore, "is where you should live. Where every Potter, Pendragon, Perevell, what have you, those of your blood should live." She said firmly looking back at him. "I don't want to be the reason that this is taken from you. I will adapt, as I always do, and I'm certain, after living here for a time while alive I won't want to leave this place."

Ares grinned at her, then chuckled.

"What?" She asked confused as she climbed into bed beside him.

"It's just," he sighed trying to find the right words, "I only have foggy memories of this place, but I know in the back of mind, then and now, that I never wanted to leave this place. This place," He waved his hand mimicking her gesture, "is home to me. More than the Dursley's, more than the houses I lived in before and after Hogwarts."

"I think that's your magic and the magic of this place." Mal said laying down playing with his hand and she yawned. "You're the Lord of this place, and it's where you were meant to be."

He laid down and nodded before resting his head against hers. "Any regrets from your old life?"

"You mean besides burning the cult members like they are witches at the stake? Or chopping off my ex-husband's manly bits before shoving them down his throat while having a cactus shoved up his bum?" She looked at him with a serious expression before shaking her head, "No."

He winced and chuckled at the same time. "I think I know what to give Riddle as a "welcome back to a body" present now."

She giggled. "I would suggest Dumbledore too, but I think he'd enjoy it."

"And with that image, I'm going to have nightmares." He shuddered.

Mal proceeded to climb on top of him, pulled off her nightshirt, before smiling down at him. She was pleased when he gave an appreciative groan.

"Then let me make sure you don't have any." She said in a sultry voice before pressing her lips to his own.

 **}TLCW{**

Having risen from another great rest, as promised, this time the family spent their day exploring the grounds of Pottermore, and there was a lot to see. Pottermore sat on several acres of land, and while Monty had said the amount, Mal had missed that part. If she thought the castle had been impressive, the land on which it sat was just as much, if not more impressive.

Located in Wales, about a two-hour drive from the Irish Sea, sat Pottermore, their home.

The whole of the property, Mal and Ares were informed, was surrounded by a forest that was known to have unicorns in them among other creatures. It acted as a natural defense against the muggles.

They were shown the quidditch pitch that would have fanatics drooling, got Ares grinning. While he wasn't a fanatic like Ron or Wood, he did enjoy the game. Even if it had been forced on him at first, he found himself enjoying it. It was one thing that the potions didn't force him to enjoy. Made him obsess over as much as Ron, well almost as much, probably. But they certainly didn't force his interest.

They saw the stables for horses, there were even trails to ride the horses. Another set of stables for hippogriffs. They were shown a section of stables for actual Griffins as well, but Monty and Mia didn't have any in their time. James hadn't been alive long enough to purchase any, though he had a fund set aside for it. Ares promised to tap into that fund to get some.

They walked through an impressive garden with a hedge maze. It was far enough away from Pottermore, that a person couldn't see into it without magical means. Even then, it was charmed to not allow incoming hostile spells, which, if they were coming from that distance, they were hostile. They were shown the way through the hedge maze to the very back of the property, though here in Purgatory that's where the drop off began.

Mal and Ares listened as they were told the maze would give them cover if they could get to it. That is if all other escape routes had been cut off. The maze would not only protect them from incoming spells, but it would act as a natural defense against their attackers. The passage from the secret tunnel opened up inside the forest, and into a small, one-roomed cabin hidden under a fidelius. The objective was to get inside and immediate apparate or portkey away.

Exiting back from the hedge maze, they were brought to the Greenhouses. Perfect for herbology lessons and potion ingredients. There were six in total. To grow what the gardens could not. It was worth noting, in Monty's opinion, that they had several properties that the house elves maintained, and they grew at the other properties what could not be grown in England for whatever reason.

Mal was interested to see there were places where livestock could be held. She saw chicken coops and pig pens. Vast open fields fence off so cattle and sheep could graze at their leisure, and barns for them to stay in at night or during the cold if they didn't wish to venture out. But no goats, the Potter's apparently couldn't stand goats. Ares's shudder was confirmation enough for Mal, though she chuckled about it.

In front was a large garage with various vehicles for muggle travel. James and Sirius listed off the many vehicles they had back when they were alive, and knowing the future that was to come, and the updated timeline, Ares was trying to remember the various cars he wanted to get. Mal shook her head at the men and their cars.

Though, she was impressed with how progressive the Potter's were for purebloods. She had been led to believe that while not extremists, they had been traditional and initially didn't want Lily to marry James. Until they met her, then they changed their minds. Mal was glad to see that the Potter's were better people than some writers and fans thought them to be.

They had learned during the tour of the castle that the sublevels held the stores of portkey's each labeled for a specific place that only a Potter/ Pendragon activate and the store of Floo powder for floo travel. So once they finished with the garage, there was nothing left to go over about transportation or anything left about the grounds that they hadn't covered.

Mal was feeling a little awestruck at the enormity of the place. Not just the castle, but grounds. This was a representation of the royalty that the Potters actually were. She doubted very much any other pureblood had a set up such as this. She was also sure this was why many purebloods feared, respected, and were jealous of the Potters. It also explained why they fell over themselves to please the Potter's even when they hated them.

 **}TLCW{**

As they had the previous day, they sat in the family room, adopting the name Mal had affectionately called it. Secretly wondering why they hadn't thought of that before. This was the conversation that Mal and Ares were most eager to hear, and it was one that Mal knew, several of the members of their family were also dreading.

"The Longbottom's, as they came from Vikings, never had a problem with this place. They had their own tastes, and they could match us when it comes to wealth and positions." Monty explained.

"There has never been a Potter without Longbottom by their side." James picked up from there, fixing Ares with a withering glare. "While Sirius and I were close yes, Frank was loyal and a true friend to me all our lives. He was as much as my brother as Sirius. He was also an unofficial Marauder. He never got his Animagus form, but he covered for us a lot of the time with the professors."

"So he knew what was going on then?" Mal asked

James nodded. "Him, and later Alice once they got engaged."

"How do you think we were able to get away with everything?" Remus asked with an amused chuckle. "I mean, we were good, we just weren't that good."

"I didn't hear that." Monty groaned, then took a deep breath.

"Who should we be wary of?" Mal asked.

Monty looked at her with a smile. "You've already said the names, my dear. Malfoy, Lestrange, and Dumbledore." He said ticking off his fingers. "The Malfoy's came from France because their bigoted way of thinking has become outdated there and Abraxas was close to being arrested for his behavior and losing everything. So he came here to Britain where our society has stagnated and many of the Pureblood's are extremists and bigoted."

"As part of our traditions, we invited them to Christmas one year, the look of utter greed in his eyes," Mia gagged. "was enough to drive me to drink for a month if I was a woman of lesser constitution. As it was, I still had a couple of shots of fire whiskey."

"Abraxas, and later his son, had their sights set on Pottermore as a conquest." Monty said. "Voldemort was bad enough, but the Malfoy's added to that was a dangerous combination from the start."

"The Lestrange's are just insane." Mia said firmly. "Too much inbreeding like the Carrow's. Only instead of losing their looks, they lost their sanity. Though the Carrow's aren't that far behind in that road of insanity."

"With Dumbledore, there are many reasons, I'm sure." Mal sighed. "Let's finish with everything else before we favor our conversation with that narcissist."

"As I was saying then," Monty nodded, "the Longbottom's, and the Bones are the well known "Light" families that we are allies with. From the "Gray" faction we have the Greengrass's, and the Lovegood's." He sent a piercing look at Ares. "From the "Dark" Factions we have the Black's and the Princes."

"Why so many quotations around the factions?" Mal asked.

"Because society has forgotten that Dark, doesn't mean evil." Monty sighed. "A Light family could kill just as easily with some of their spells, and the Dark can defend with some of theirs."

Silence reigned for a moment as Ares digested that information.

He looked at Mal after a moment. "Where do I know that name from, Prince?"

"Snape's mother Eileen's maiden name was Prince." Mal thought for a moment, going over all of the information she had in her mind. "Not much is known about the Prince family as J.K. has never elaborated on them, and the fandom is inconsistent with them. Some of them have Snape as a good guy, other's a bad guy, but none that I'm aware of go into detail about his family history. They just focus on the man himself. All we know is that his father was a muggle, abusive, and his mother may or may not have been a pureblood."

She looked up at Monty, "I take it that the Prince's were purebloods, and there's a different version of Snape's parentage."

Monty nodded, but it was Lily who explained. "Eileen was the only daughter to Archibald and Florence Prince. They had two sons older than her. Isaac and Alfie. Now," she fixed them with a looked, "as I'm sure you know, some purebloods don't think much of women."

The couple nodded.

"The Prince's weren't like that. They valued their family members." Lily sighed, "However, Archibald was a gambler. His antics and depts becoming more and more outrageous as the years went on. Many of the alliance had bailed him out at one time or another. Just before Eileen was married to Tobias, Archibald had run up a massive debt at an illegal gambling ring. Tobias Snape ran the place and was not a muggle mind you, but a Pureblood that had his core bound and was banished from his family for some crime that he wouldn't voice, and neither would they. He offered Archibald a deal."

"His daughter for a cleared debt." Mal said softly. "And Archibald took it?"

"Not exactly." Lily said holding up a finger. "There was an extensive marriage contract, with multiple clauses, Archibald agreed to have a clause that would have Eileen's magic forced to love Tobias. Hoping that way Eileen would suffer less. However, Tobias wanted control of the Prince's wealth and power, and tried to get more out of the contract than he normally would, and tried to trick Archibald. Archibald, who had a boon with the Goblin's, turned that contract around and trapped Tobias into incriminating himself with the gambling den, and making to where he had no access to any of the Prince's wealth, and that he was not to approach them."

"So why didn't work to keep Eileen away from him?" Ares asked.

"Because Eileen must have signed the contract to save her family." Mal answered for Lily. "To spare the Prince's the public shame, and knowing that her magic would make her love him, and be a Snape in magic as well as the name, she gave up everything to do with the Prince's to save her family."

Lily nodded in confirmation. "Exactly."

"Because of that," Monty growled, "Florence, Mia, and myself forced Archibald into an unbreakable vow to never gamble again. Archibald died mere months after that. He couldn't keep his vow. We knew that going in, but we couldn't risk him doing worse in the future. After what he did to Eileen, it was unforgivable, even if she agreed to it. By the time Florence and I knew what was happening, it was too late to stop it. Eileen was married to Tobias, and the contract was signed. So yes, we made him enter a deal that we knew would eventually kill him."

Mia sighed mournfully, "We had a daughter, about twenty years before James." She smiled a bit at Mal. "As I'm sure you are aware, we are different than Muggles and can have children well into our sixties." Mal nodded briefly before she continued. "Anyway, our daughter was six when she died." She quickly held up a hand, "I will not explain that you will learn later on."

Ares sat back, the anger he felt brimming at the thought of a member of his family dying to unnatural means simmered down. He'd wait then.

"Anyway, my point is, we had just found out we were pregnant with James when this happened, and we couldn't let Archibald getaway with that." She sniffed and wiped away a tear.

"Tobias spent time in Azkaban, while Archibald gave Eileen enough money to keep a house and food on the table." Monty sighed. "Archibald died, Severus was born, and when the boy was two, Tobias came home. He had a loving wife and a son, but because the first child had been a boy, magic would not let Eileen have any more children. For Archibald feared that Tobias would rape any daughter he had. Tobias, now unable to find any work in the magical world, had to work in the muggle world. Whatever money he made, went straight to his drinking."

"Severus had a very lonely, confusing, and hard childhood." Lily said softly, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

Ares ran his hand up and down Mal's arm with a pensive look on his face. "Not to veer even more off topic, but can you answer this for me?" He looked to his parents who nodded, "What does this mean for Snape? He was a right git to me, and I was also informed he could have been a lot worse. I'm having trouble reconciling that his mother was a good daughter and her family an ally of ours."

"More than an ally." James sighed. "We were all among the best of friends."

Lily nodded. "Things were tense at school for a while. Him being in Slytherin and us being Gryffindors. The bullying was to make people believe Severus hated James and Sirius, with the feeling being mutual."

"He was another unnamed Marauder as well." Sirius said in an unusually serious tone.

"He hated his father." Lily assured the couple. "He worked with his mother and made sure he understood the Prince's family ways. He's more of a Prince in blood than he is a Snape. Thus, making him a part of the alliance. He was the one who approached James at the start of school to start a friendship and keep the alliance alive. He was also the one who came up with the idea about infiltrating the Death Eater ranks."

Ares fell back as if he'd been shoved and merely stared ahead unseeing.

"You have to understand," James said leaning forward, "the bullying and pushing away Lily as all to make him safe within Slytherin. So he wouldn't be hurt. When he started to make friends with them, he approached us with the idea."

"With him making friends with the children of Death Eaters, with them openly saying they would join his ranks someday, it was inevitable that he would be offered the same choice." Lily said urgently, looking desperate, and Mal knew she needed them to believe her. "He looked at it as the ultimate con of the light side. A spy infiltrating the Death Eater's ranks."

"He got in by killing his parents." Sirius said using the same tone as before. "Something I don't blame him for, and kind of envy him about."

"Eileen was severely sick, riddled with cancer. Tobias wouldn't let her see muggle doctors, let alone magical healers." Lily spat. "By the time Severus was ready to join the ranks and keep his secrets safe behind occlumency, Eileen was in so much pain and couldn't even move. At that point, not even magic could help her. Severus gave her a mercy killing and killed the monster responsible for the way she was."

"We suspect that when Severus went to Voldemort, despite the obvious mercy killing and lack of viciousness, Voldemort took him in because of the similarities between them. We actually hoped that would happen and it worked in our favor." Remus took over telling. "Despite the similarities, however, Snape wasn't that far up the food chain. He was only in the inner circle because he agreed to spy for Voldemort. Meanwhile, he was sifting what information he could back to us."

"I thought he was a bigot!?" Ares was shocked by this turn of events. He looked to his mother, "I know he loved you, but he still followed the plan that sent me straight to death, twice! That also doesn't excuse how he treated me, Neville, and the rest of the students of Hogwarts for years!"

"He didn't love me romantically." Lily argued softly. "He loved me as a sister. He had someone he loved."

"Who?" Mal asked curiously.

"Pomona Sprout." Lily answered gently. "She helped him with understanding potion ingredients and he felt a kinship with her that no one else could match. After leaving Hogwarts, he stayed single for a long time. My understanding is, part of the reason he went back to Hogwarts, was to be with her and confess his feelings."

It was Remus who turned the conversation back and corrected the rest of the Ares's comments. "No Ares, Severus, was nothing like what you think. He hated his father yes, that's undeniable, but he had respect for muggles. He didn't think them villainous, or lesser creatures. He even firmly believed co-existence was in the future. Perhaps not in any our lifetimes, but someday. He also hated the pureblood agenda because of what it did to his mother."

"But, how?" Ares sat back utterly lost and confused. "The Prophecy? Everything he did to me!? To Neville!? What happened!?"

"We'd wondered that too." Sirius said. "After we died, some things didn't make sense."

Ares sighed in frustration. "There's a lot of that going around."

"Dumbledore."

Everyone looked at Mal.

"Dumbledore." She said again. "Might as well hear what Monty and Mia have to say about him before I get to what I think he did to Snape."

Monty and Mia nodded in agreement. They revealed then they never liked Dumbledore. Sure, they made it look like they were following him, but they didn't trust him completely. They respected his power and his defeat of Grindelwald. But his personality, his methods, they left much to be desired. So they felt they couldn't trust him.

They talked about how he rose to power. About how there were suspicious circumstances as to how he got his positions. About how he talked and evaded answering the question put to him. About how no fault could ever be found in him. About how those who disagreed with him, soon found themselves in questionable situations, and their credit and opinion were suddenly of lesser value than it had been before. That or Dumbledore would casually make a comment to the Prophet and they would write a whole bunch of slander. Which would eventually lead to the first occurrence.

One of the things that were talked about, that Mal was more interested in, was his reaction to Pottermore. She'd already figured out or knew about Dumbledore's politics and his way of manipulating things, but it was his unfiltered reactions she was more interested in.

James was out with Lily, so he wasn't present for this.

The setup of the library had apparently infuriated Albus the one time he was allowed to visit. He had been helping with the war effort of Voldemort and asked to see if he could use their library for research. Seeing no reason to deny him, they allowed him the public access. He had been stunned by the room and the number of books. The greed was evident on the face that was usually masked with the grandfatherly persona.

Immediately, he had tried to gain access to the second floor without permission. Also, without permission, he attempted to take down the charms and wards on the stairs that were preventing him his ascension. As expected, an alarm went off and Albus was caught. When confronted about his behavior, he argued he had to know what was up there, he had to make sure they were not of dark material. It was his right as the leader of the light and his job.

An argument ensued, long and loud. Monty and Mia eventually got Dumbledore to slip, having him trapped in a ward by the stairs where he would be forced to tell the truth. An old ward that was long forgotten by the rest of the Wizarding World, and there was little hope of recreating as they had no idea which part of the Ward Stone it was on.

Dumbledore eventually slipped that he knew the Potter's were the descendants of the Peverell's and he wanted that magical power and the Deathly Hollows. Only he alone was worthy of them. Once he had Death under his control, the world would follow shortly after. He quickly clamped shut after having said that.

It found him thrown own by Monty and Mia. The next day, the elderly couple had found themselves killed. They had plans to sit down with James that night and reveal what Dumbledore had done.

"It's hardly a coincidence." Lily snarled after Monty and Mia finished their tale. James grinding his teeth in frustration beside her. Despite having heard this before, it never ceased to infuriate them.

"I agree." Mal said. "The very next day after Dumbledore slips up, they're killed? No, he had to have set them up and likely used Pettigrew. Being a master Legimens that he was, he had to know that Snape wouldn't turn over the Potter's, but Pettigrew would."

That realization didn't sit well with the former generation in the room.

Mal felt she had to continue with what she was theorizing in case she was right. "Because the elder Lord and Lady would not grant him access, Dumbledore arranged for their death and did nothing in the public eye to stop it. He did this quickly, and thoroughly. You can't tell me that he didn't watch his order members like a hawk. He's a control freak, so he knew where they were and likely what they were doing at all times."

Remus shook his head in remorse while Sirius snarled. "You've got that right; I remember his probing questions."

"It's a sickening thing to realize." James gagged.

"I understand that, believe me." Mal nodded, remembering her own experiences with such a living. Causing Ares to rub her back in comfort. "Anyway, after his slip, he knew that James was out, and he knew that James would likely be out all night with Sirius and Remus. He likely had Pettigrew join you later to keep you out all night?"

She looked at the three in question, to see if she was on the right track. They all nodded in confirmation, realization dawning anew in their eyes.

"He set up Monty and Mia to be killed the very next day." Mal sighed with a shake of her head. "They knew too much, and they were also powerhouses, who worked against him at times. He couldn't have that, and he likely had them on a sacrifice list anyway. If nothing else to give James more reason to fight, revenge is a good motive, and while Dumbledore doesn't exactly approve of it, he would use James's broken heart against him. But his slip with the elder Potter's just put them at the top of his list."

Mal sat back with a shake of her head. "He was likely expecting that his precious minions in Lily and James would grant him full access to Pottermore. As they were his protégé's, and he thought completely loyal to him. Even if they didn't, with them later being dead, he probably thought that all the preventing magics would eventually fade and he would get access to the castle."

Ares growled having to bite his fist to keep from cursing the room to pieces at the realization Mal gave him.

She looked up at James and Lily, "With this turn of events, and your grief, it was likely at this time that he must of have used a combination of charms and potions to make you loyal to him and convinced you to leave the safety of Pottermore, essentially abandoning it, to go live in Godric's Hollow."

A brief shocked silence followed before bedlam broke out.

"Son of a bitch!" James shouted as he stood and punched a wall before pacing.

Remus and Sirius having similar reactions as well. Monty and Mia had passed seething and were looking downright murderous. She was sure if they could do it over, they would have slaughtered Dumbledore while he was Pottermore.

Mal looked at Ares. "At least now I know where you get it from."

Monty sighed, feeling that giving a chuckle at this time would be wrong. "Unfortunately, all the Potters have this tendency."

"Damn it all she's right!" Lily was seething. Bringing the subject back to focus. "We had tea with Dumbledore at Hogwarts after the funeral. It was then that he suggested it, and we just agreed. We didn't even think to protest. Especially when we went in there with our doubts about him! James already suspected Dumbledore's hand in the situation. We never would have left Pottermore, especially not with Ares being a newborn!"

"Because of the prophecy, he expected you to die, and he likely suspected that Ares would die as well." Mal nodded. "He had everything tied up in a nice little bow, he just needed you to die. Because you were so loyal to him, and I'm guessing he picked you up from Pottermore," Lily and James nodded, "he thought he must have had full access to this place. He probably came back right after you left, but found himself barred from certain sections. That's probably when he got to the fake charter and the fake Wardstone. It's probably then that he stole a few things. Because of the potions and charms, he got the cloak off James. Though I suspect after your deaths, the read Wardstone put everything on lockdown, and not even Dumbledore could get back in. Which is why he took what he did when he did because he knew he wouldn't be able to get back until after Ares's death."

Mal looked back, Ares. "It's my theory that it's because of potions and charms that Dumbledore has total control over the Hogwarts staff and what they do. Because nothing like what happened during your Hogwarts experience would have if they had their true wits about them."

She looked back at the room. "I also think that's why Snape behaved the way he did. Because he'd been charmed, potioned, and most likely obliviated to make him hate everything Potter, obsess over Lily, her death, and work as a double agent with only his best interests at heart. I suspect, it was Snape who told the prophecy to Voldemort, with your blessing to get him in the inner circle."

The former marauders nodded.

"After that Halloween, Dumbledore must have sat Snape down, and with the use of potions, and the Elder Wand, he must have broken through Snape's barriers and rewrote all of his mind and memories. Making Snape into his perfect little spy on a leash. If Snape believed himself villainous, and in danger without Dumbledore's protection, he would have followed along with anything Dumbledore wanted." Mal looked over the room. "Dumbledore knew that Riddle would be making a comeback, and Snape was the only Death Eater he had available to him at the moment. So he did what he had to in his mind to keep the spy. He needed information and the knowledge that Snape had at his disposal. So he made sure that Snape wouldn't have anyone else to run to. Later doing the same thing to Remus, Sirius, and Pettigrew so the story was consistent.

"Given his place in power, the prophecy being enacted, and his great plan, he wouldn't leave it to chance. He would make it all work in his favor. Whatever means he deemed necessary, after all, it was for "the Greater Good."

Mal now curled into Ares's side, knowing he needed it. All of them had a grim expression on their faces.

"In canon, he and Grindelwald were seekers of the Hallows." Mal continued softly. "Grindelwald wanted the wand, while Dumbledore wanted the stone to communion with his departed sister, who he may or may not have killed. Going further with that line of thinking, I think, now I may be wrong, and it just may be the fanfictions coming to play here, but I think he was in league with Grindelwald."

This caused the other witches and wizards to jump as if they'd been shocked. Given that they knew the history with Grindelwald and Dumbledore's part in the war effort, she could forgive them the ignorance or not looking at it too closely.

"Think about it," Mal nodded. "Grindelwald's slogan was "For the Greater Good", what was it that Dumbledore was always saying to people and his minions before they cowed to his demands? Something I repeated earlier?"

Lily, immediately caught onto what Mal was saying. "You don't mean-" Lily couldn't even bring herself to finish the thought let alone the statement.

"They were lovers, even J.K. Rowling said that." Mal nodded again. "According to some fanfictions, the falling out that saw Arianna killed wasn't because Grindelwald was going dark, though that was part of the reason. It was mostly because they disagreed on their methods. Grindelwald wanted to go public with his campaign while Dumbledore believed working from the shadows would see their ultimate goal reached. They went their separate ways to work on their separate methods and goals. Grindelwald failed, just like Dumbledore predicted, and because Dumbledore tricked him.

"People rallied against Grindelwald and fought to keep him contained. Dumbledore tricked his old lover into a night of passion, then while Grindelwald was knocked out, trapped him in his famous prison Nurmengard. Dumbledore used this event, merely saying he defeated Grindelwald – not killed him, mind you - to firmly cement himself in Wizarding society as a hero, a savior. One they could turn to in times of need. By the time Riddle came along, his influence was ebbing, and people were questioning, and Dumbledore couldn't have that.

"Now," Mal said sitting straight and looking them all seriously. "Some fanfictions say that Riddle was made into the villain that he was by Dumbledore, specifically for Dumbledore to end him and gain more glory. The prophecy ruined all his plans, so he set things up for everyone important to Harry," she patted, Ares's knee when he growled at the name "sorry, hun, it was a slip, won't happen again. Anyway, Dumbledore set up for James and Lily to die, for Sirius to be incarcerated and away from Ares. He sealed the wills of James and Lily, then he placed Ares with the Dursley's and set everything up over the years for Ares to be abused. When he came to Hogwarts, Dumbledore set things so Ares would either die during his school years or be killed by Voldemort upon his return. He was making it so Ares would willingly sacrifice himself for the Greater Good. Which would then give Dumbledore the chance to swoop in and claim his glory."

To say the ones who lived in that world were angry was putting it mildly. They passed angry long ago.

"Given this information, if all of it is correct, it puts paid to the theory of everyone being potioned and manipulated into doing what he wants them to do. From what you guys told me, he wanted to get his hands on the Potter and Perevell family magic books. More than that, he wanted to gain access to the vaults below the basement and what was stored in them. He probably thought that's where the other Deathly Hollows were kept, or at the very least, the Resurrection Stone." Mal sighed. "He wanted power, money, influence, and with this family gone, and Voldemort defeated, he would have all of it. If he succeeded in getting the Sorcerer's Stone, then he'd have an eternity to bask in it all." Mal rubbed the back of her neck. "Only he didn't count on how evil Riddle truly was, and how far he would go to keep from dying. Which saw him killed before he could achieve his lifelong wish."

Ares looked at his grandfather. "I'm sure she's got the right of it."

Monty nodded, "I think so as well."

"Meaning it explains how he was able to make the marriage contract between myself and Ginny just three days after my parent's murder." Ares grimaced. "He had it in his hands the day he put my parents into hiding. He set it all up so if one plan failed, he had backups. He would gain access to this place, and he would have what he wanted, one way or another."

Mal looked over the room and marveled at them all.

She'd gotten to know all of them really well during those two days. While Ares was reacquainting himself with things he already knew, and learning more than he did before. Both were really enjoying this time with their family.

However, after saying her piece about Dumbledore, the more they thought about their lives, and his role in them. The more they came to realize, nothing added up.

Lily was as much of a prankster as the Marauders. She was every bit as smart as the stories made her out to be. With a temper that had not been exaggerated in the slightest in Mal's opinion.

She and Severus worked on several potions together. They improved a bunch and made breakthroughs with others. Severus was a good friend to her, but he would never have lamented over her the way Ares described to her.

To say Ares was shocked was putting it mildly. And he thought he couldn't get anymore shocked.

Remus was not the lost puppy dog that absently followed Dumbledore's orders as if he was the next coming of Merlin. As the books and many fanfictions made him out to be. He too had likely been potioned, but it would have taken an alchemic component never seen before in the potion to alter his state of mind to circumvent the wolf in Remus.

In death, he seethed with rage at what Dumbledore had plotted. It had to be low self-esteem, guilt, and loyalty potions that had Remus running from Tonks when he truly loved her, more than anything, when he found out she was pregnant with his child. When truly, he would have _never_ left her side. It was the only thing he could think of.

Sirius, they learned with great interest, had been madly in love with Amelia Bones all of his life. While many boasted about being with Sirius, and he was a vaunted playboy, he'd never done more than kiss, lightly pet a few girls, and stole their nickers to piss his mother off. The only one he'd ever really been with was Amelia. The only one he truly loved, was Amelia.

He also suspected, the reason she believed he was guilty, and never fought for him, why no one fought for him, was the spells and potions that Dumbledore used after his arrest was made public.

He too learned in death the extent of Dumbledore's manipulations in his incarceration, and his staying on the run. He suspected it was Dumbledore who poisoned his state of mind to see Ares as James instead of the boy and son to him that Ares was. By use of mind-altering and mind deteriorating potions. Azkaban did a number on him sure, but nothing to that extent. That came after he was free.

Tonks revealed she never wanted to be an Auror. It was a career path that Dumbledore, and the rest of Hogwarts, had pushed onto her at Dumbledore's urging. She wasn't sure what she wanted, but she knew it wasn't that. But Dumbledore needed her abilities there, just as he needed her loyalty to him.

Mal shook her head the more she learned about Dumbledore. While she was sure somewhere, in some world, there was a Dumbledore who was a good man. Flawed, but a good man. This Dumbledore she was about to face, was anything but. He truly was a Dark Lord behind the scenes. His actions with these few people and the manner behind their lives and deaths proved it.

The more they talked about it. The more it seemed her theories and their suspicions were true. As much as it upset her, those who had lived through it were even more so.

"How did no one notice this!?" Monty exclaimed furiously. "How could one man hold so much power!?"

"Could the Potter's hold that much power, if they tried?"

Everyone looked at Mal.

"Think about it, you have the magical power, you have the means, surely if the Potter-Pendragon's rose up, they could even surpass Dumbledore." Mal said gently. "Dumbledore is no different than any other Dark Lord, he uses pretty words, his flare of magic, and in those who are reluctant, he slips a spell into their subconscious or a potion while they aren't suspecting it." She waved around the room by example.

"Remus was a werewolf since childhood, Dumbledore used to this to make a pawn in an attempt to bring the werewolf society to his whim. He did the same with Sirius, knowing Sirius's grandfather wouldn't kick him out of the family. How I don't know, but he obviously did. Because he later used the Black name, and influence. Wrenching from Malfoy's control so it would pass to Ares, and then upon Ares's death, to Dumbledore. James and Lily were used and sacrificed as his plan allowed. Ares was raised for the slaughter.

"All because of his flashy power, silver tongue, through subtlety then blatant control, because he fought "for the Greater Good". He defeated one Dark Lord, was on the verge of defeating another, no one with that much power the masses would question. Magical Britain had become lazy and allowed themselves to become sheep, which is what Grindelwald, Voldemort, and Dumbledore all preyed upon." Mal sat back with a sigh. "Really society has no one to blame but themselves. They didn't want to look too closely. They wanted someone to protect them while they did nothing. Whether because they were lazy, or because they had been beaten down to that point, I couldn't tell you, but I can say that society is to blame."

"Society and the Pureblood agenda." Ares agreed and added to her argument. "The bigots in power are trying to keep things the way they are, the way they like it, with them in power and control. They don't care what they have to stomp on, as long as they have power, that's what matters."

Mal nodded. "Dumbledore wants that. He wants them to stay the way they are and stagnant. With the eventual goal of either merging with the muggle world and overtaking it, or simply merging the magical communities and ruling them, I have no idea."

"Whatever his plans, the eventual outcome would be war." Ares said.

A collective sigh resounded by everyone. No more words were spoken as they headed to bed. Each lost in their own thoughts on the matter.

 **}TLCW{**

 _GAH! I'm still not convinced it was an info dump, but I can't think of anything more to edit on it at this time. Maybe someday this will feature a rewrite/update, but not at this time._

 _I promise, next chapter, not an info dump, and the story will move quickly again._

 **}TLCW{**

Updated on 5/7/19

Well, I've updated this, and it's still an info dump in my opinion, but an info dump that was necessary.

I know I should leave some things to be discovered upon their return right? Don't worry, there is still a whole world of discovery to be had in the magical community.


	9. Chapter 9: White to Gray

_**AN**_ _: Okay so I read through and I edited my first eight chapters! Nothing really major changed. Just a few things. Other parts had to be completely reworked._

 _The changes that I know off the top of my head are as follows:_

 _1_ _st_ _) Mal's ex-husband's name._ _ **From**_ _Aaron Augustus Anderson_ _ **To**_ _Allen Austin Anderson_

 _Reason for this is, my sister has a fiancé named Aaron, and I can't write a scene using that name without flashing to him. And I'd rather he not appear as a villain in the story the first time I use his name. So that was my own conscious that led me to change that particular thing._

 _2_ _nd_ _)_ _ **Changed Ares's hair back to black**_ _. Pitch Black instead of Raven Black or Umber brown_

 _I really missed the idea of Ares's hair being black, then I found the perfect picture to imagine as Ares while writing, so this is the Ares you'll be seeing from now on._

 _Black hair, Golden yellow eyes, tall, and lean muscular body._

 _For those who want a vivid picture: Look up fanart of Vanitas from Kingdom Hearts._

 _But really, that's just what I'm picturing. You guys can picture whatever, and whomever you want._

 _Robert Downey Jr or Ian Somerhalder could be Ares in your minds for all I care._

 _3_ _rd_ _) I mentioned somewhere that this would be the last chapter of the Afterlife Arc, but I was wrong. There's two more. This one and the one after that, and we should be back to the mortal plane where all the goody fun is._

 _4_ _th_ _) I've rewritten the last part of chapter 8. Someone pointed out to me that I mentioned Snape having contradictions, but I never really explained why that was. Especially, if you remember, in earlier chapters I said Ares would have been raped by him. The rewritten part explains why that is._

 _ **For those who don't want to reread chapter 8**_ _, and just wish for a summary. Here it is: Snape was actually friends with the Marauders all along, with the whole hatred and bullying thing being an act. Mostly to keep Snape safe in Slytherin. He's actually a good guy, but after the Potter's death, and for all of Ares's (formerly Harry) school years, he was very much the villain and could have been worse._ _ **Reason being**_ _: Dumbledore. Mal put forth the theory that all of them, had been potioned, obliviated, and played for a puppet by Dumbledore. Snape being the worst one victimized. / That will be explained as the story goes on. Even if her theory is true._

 _ **Comment Response:**_

 _Lunadracoitsnew: No, nothing will come easy for them. Even with their knowledge going back, things will not be so easy-peasy. I just hope I do a good job at it. And I can't comment on the sugar thing as I'm currently trying to cut back on my sugar intake lol_

 _So okay! Here we go! Thanks for coming back!_

 **}TLCW{**

The third day of being in Pottermore began with Mal waking first. As she opened her eyes and stretched, she sensed that all the others were resting. She'd been informed by Lily and Tonks this was her magic coming out more. Now that she had been able to rest properly and she was no longer under the care of the suffocating Rida, she began to feel her magic more.

It started off as simply being more aware of her surroundings. The people, and what was going on. Sensing them no matter where they were in Pottermore or on this flat earth floating in the cosmos. She was ready to learn more magic. Excitement bubbled inside of her and sleep was no longer possible.

Mal rolled till she was facing Ares, and sighed contentedly watching him sleep peacefully. She still couldn't believe that this was happening. She was actually with him, he wanted her, and there was a mortal life waiting for them. One where if they succeeded, there would be happiness and hopefully a family for the two of them. Having lived that once already, she was eager to experience it all anew.

Getting restless she crawled carefully out of bed, dressed, and crept out the small castle. She walked out to the garden maze and found the path she saw the previous day. When she saw it then, she thought _no, absolutely not!_

However, it nagged her. In her dreams, she'd seen the path again, and she followed it, coming out into a scene she had only ever seen on tv before. If she had a heartbeat, she was sure it would be pounding in her ears as she turned off the usual garden path, and down this one.

As it had in her dream, it came to a dead end with nothing but tall hedges of the maze and vines covering one wall of them, she pushed the vines aside, and sure enough, there was a door. It was small, but it was big enough she could walk through it with ease.

On the other side, she followed the stairs she'd only seen a movie before, down into a clearing where an old stone building stood. A stone pond off to the side, and a large tree with a swing. Surrounded by flowers, and more hedges that she knew would have a path that would lead to the fields.

She smiled through the tears.

One of her favorite movies she was actually allowed to watch growing up was The Secret Garden. She later devoured the book with a hunger no other child in her class had. While her teacher was proud, not of the sect, and encouraged Mal's love of reading of distant places and fantasy adventures, the members of the sect were not too keen.

Still, it was a classic tale, The Secret Garden was one that she was allowed. Her later interests of the fantasy nature and were not allowed. So she read them when she could, and devoured them all with renewed vigor after her marriage fell apart and she was exiled from what she had come to realize and firmly believe was a cult.

Lost in thought, she sat on the swing and swayed back and forth gently eyes closed, enjoying the peace that surrounded her. The fragrance of the flowers, the earth, the water, filtered through the air and surrounded her. She could feel the sun warming her skin. A new feeling settled over her. It had been growing since her arrival to this floating mass of land, and now, it settled into her soul and radiated throughout her being.

It was home. Her home. Soon, she wouldn't be sitting in a replication of it. Soon, she would be sitting in the real thing, the real Secret Garden.

No, Pottermore, she forced her mind to correct, the Pottermore Gardens. She was so amazed she didn't know what to think.

When two strong arms wrapped around her, stopping her movement, she opened her eyes and smiled up into Ares's golden eyes.

"I missed you this morning." He said softly as he kissed her head. "I had to cast out my senses to find you, and this place. I didn't appreciate that."

"Sorry." She said meaning it. "I just saw the path that led here yesterday. All day I tried to convince myself it couldn't possibly be what I was thinking. I dreamed of walking down the path and finding this place. This morning, I couldn't deny the urge to come and look." She looked around and smiled. "It actually exists somewhere."

Ares looked around, he wasn't so sure what was so great about this place, but the happiness radiating off of Mal was palpable, intoxicating even. He could feel it from their room back at the castle.

"What is this place?" He asked.

"The Secret Garden." Mal said resting her head against his chest. "When I was a little girl, I saw the movie and it became my favorite. Whenever things were bad, I would envision this place. I wished I could disappear there, well, to here. Suddenly I was Mary Lennox, absconded from India to England after her parents died." She breathed deeply. "I would roam the manor with my cousin, and work in the gardens. It was all so real in my mind. So much so, I'm sure that when I get to Occlumency, this," She waved her hand around this place smiling brightly, "this will be my mindscape. That or Ariel's underwater grotto." She tilted her head and thought for a moment. "Perhaps a combination of the two."

Ares looked around with renewed understand and smiled down at her. "Soon, you'll see the real thing."

"I know." She grinned up at him. "I can't wait."

He leaned down and captured her lips his own. Sitting down on the swing with her, and kissing her deeply as they swayed slightly in a breeze that appeared out of nowhere.

When the parted he rested his head against her own. "In the future, please don't disappear on me? Please let me know where you're going."

"I will." She promised. "I got carried away in this place because we can sense each other."

"We won't have that soon." He reminded her, knowing she didn't really need it, but needing to say it nonetheless.

She kissed his lips softly then smiled. "We should get back. I can feel everyone else looking for us."

He nodded and stood helping her stand.

As they walked back holding hands, she couldn't help but notice their change in clothes. Purgatory was not lacking fashion that was for sure, and it seemed that souls were provided clothing based on what they liked.

Rather than the robes he died in, or the clothes she died in, Ares was now wearing a black t-shirt that hugged his upper body, and denim pants, with simple trainers. She was wearing a full-length dress that was dark plum. She'd had one as a teenager that she had loved, but was always too embarrassed to wear. She had wanted to modify it so instead of the short sleeves it had sleeveless straps that crossed behind her back that brought the fabric a bit closer to her neck. The dress was currently cut in a style reminiscent of a video game characters outfit, and she loved it.

Back at the castle every one was coming out the back and sighed with relief.

"We thought you'd vanished on us pups!" Sirius exclaimed.

"My fault." Mal admitted with a small smile. "I wanted to see if I was right about something in the garden maze, and I was. I got lost my thoughts and emotions there."

Mia smiled. "You found the Heart Garden."

"I called it the Secret Garden growing up. It was in a movie I saw as a child." Mal smiled. "I'm not much of a gardener I'll admit, but I can't wait to see the real thing with my own eyes."

Mia grinned. "It is a magical place, and it always calls to its owner. The fact that you saw it, even in another world, is proof enough for me that you were always meant to be here."

Before Mal could do more than smile happily at the love surrounding her, they felt the arrival of Gabriel and another Arch Angel.

"Looks like he brought Michael with him." Ares mused as he led the way to the front of the castle, Mal still holding his hand and walking with him.

"So, our special training begins now." She murmured.

"So it would seem." Ares returned.

Out front, at what was once the Apparition point of the property, near the front gate, Gabriel was walking up with another angel beside him. His white wings were larger than his body and trailed behind him on the ground like a cape.

Ares, saw the leader of the angels, the Arch Angel Michael.

Mal looked at him confused for a moment, thinking she'd seen him before. When she realized how, she stopped. She saw him as someone else.

Mal came to an abrupt stop as shock and fear coursed through her, Ares looked back worried. Heartache was etched across her face as her ice blue eyes filled with tears.

"Andrew?" She whispered still staring at the lead Arch Angel.

Ares looked back at Michael in shock.

Michael, though still some distance away, stopped and smiled sadly at Mal. "Actually, it's Michael, but yes."

Dropping Ares's hand, Mal rushed forward and crushed Michael in a hug as she sobbed. Ares stood back, arms crossed over his chest, watching as his wife was reunited with a brother she lost long ago.

Michael, in all the times he'd seen him, had never looked so vulnerable to Ares. Michael always made sure to keep emotions out of it, he argued and made decisions based on logic and facts. Which is why he suspected, Michael found it hard to accept change, even if those orders came from God. It was the only thing he could think of.

Yet here was this powerhouse of Purgatory, the stubborn mule as Gabriel called him after arguments, with tears in his eyes before he closed them and hugged Mal tightly. His wings instinctually closing around her as they embraced.

Gabriel looked between his brother hugging Mal, and Ares who had been abandoned. He feared that Ares would get upset. However, he was relieved to see the look of understanding and compassion. Ares wasn't upset that his wife had forgotten about him temporarily. This was the brother she had cried for, worried for, and missed greatly. He was happy that she was able to reunite with him as he had been with his family.

Though, that did beg the question, why did Michael live a mortal life? With Mal of all people?

When Mal pulled back wiping her tears, she smiled at him, "Now I understand. You were never in my other lives because you were needed here."

Michael smiled, but Ares saw the burning rage and hatred in his eyes. It was the same way he felt when it came to the angels and humans responsible for Mal's suffering.

"Yes." Michael finally said. After hugging her one last time, he looked up and smiled politely at everyone gathered, who was watching the scene with various expression from shock to awe. Only Ares's face was expressionless, and Michael knew why. "Let's go inside, shall we? There is much to discuss."

Mal grinned excitement that Michael remembered seeing on her as a little girl. "Of course! Oh, Andrew, sorry Michael, wait till you see this place! It's amazing! And!" She bounced excitedly in front of it, "It has the Secret Garden!"

Mia's lips twitched, wanting to correct the name, but didn't have the heart to speak the words, which Ares was grateful for. Everyone watched shocked as Mal led the leader of the Angels, and Purgatory, inside talking a mile minute in her excitement. What surprised everyone present, even Gabriel, was Michael let her and laughed with her. Catching up as if they really were long lost siblings having been separated as children.

Mal wasn't talking as fast as Hermione had when she behaved this way, but it was still pretty quick. Ares couldn't help but compare how annoying Hermione had been, versus how amusing the scene with Mal was.

Perhaps it was because this was the first time he'd seen her like this, whereas Hermione seemed to have a reaction like this at least once a day. Or talked as if she expected everyone to be listening to every word every time she spoke.

He shook his head, that was the past, it wouldn't do to compare his previous wives with his forever wife. He smiled at that nickname a bit. He could imagine the blush and smile that would be on Mal's face when he called her that later.

"That's different." Gabriel finally muttered.

"Is this going to be a problem?" Ares asked gesturing with his head.

Gabriel shook his head and gave Ares a playful shocked look. "He's more of a father figure than a lover."

"Not what I meant." Ares grumbled.

Gabriel snickered. "Sure, it wasn't."

Ares punched the angel in the arm and went to walk inside. Gabriel rubbed his arm briefly when Ares was looking, when he wasn't, Gabriel made an expression that showed how much pain he really in from that punch.

"Still a soul and he can give me more pain than I've felt in over a hundred years." Gabriel muttered still rubbing his abused arm. Fearful he might actually have a bruise from it.

 **}TLCW{**

Mal hadn't been sure where to bring Michael, who would later have Gabriel joining them. Because of the large number of people, she settled for the library as it had the most space and the tables, she had a feeling they would likely need it. Also feeling that most of her time was going to be spent here in the library as well.

This assessment was proven accurate when everyone arrived as Mal was still explaining the layout of the library to Michael.

Michael laughed as everyone was walking in, Ares leading the pack. "You'll be right at home here. You always did love to read."

"And she'll have plenty of books." Ares said coming up and wrapping his arms around her kissing her head. "Whatever is already here, plus whatever we get in the future."

Michael didn't miss the gesture on Ares' part, but Ares didn't watch Michael for a reaction as his eyes were on Mal. Who smiled up at him with all of her heart, happiness radiating all around her.

The family gathered, sitting in the plush armchairs nearby so they could hear what was said and step in if need be, while Mal and Ares sat at a table across from Gabriel and Michael.

Michael sighed and looked at Mal. "I think before we get to the contract, and the training regiment, there are things that I need to explain."

"I understand." Mal nodded, but she held up her hand to stall him. "But I have one question first."

Michael nodded, "You want to know what happened that night."

"I have my theories, but I want to know the truth." She said firmly. "After everything's that's happened, I can handle the truth, nothing's worse than my own imagination."

"That, I'm all too aware of." Michael sighed. He glanced at Ares. "You're in for it. Her imagination is something else."

He shrugged. "Imagination or predictions, I don't care. She's my wife."

Michael smiled at Ares. Then he sighed again.

"I had hoped you wouldn't ask this, but I also knew it was a foolish hope." He looked her in the eyes and nodded. "I was killed that night. While they chanted and prayed, I was beaten by everyone. Hands, feet, whatever they could get their hands on, you name it, it was used." He sighed still looking her in the eyes, which were filling with tears. As if she was seeing it as he was telling the story. Now that he thought about it, she probably was. It also didn't escape his notice that Ares took her hand and gripped it tight in comfort. "Near the end of it, Lauren was offered a deal, she could die naturally, with no further ridicule from the masses, at least not to her face, if she killed me herself and allowed Arnold to destroy the body."

Mal closed her eyes and shook her head. "She did the same more or less with me time and again. Did she finish the beating, or stab you?"

"Blood would have made a mess. And I was already bleeding enough as it was." He reminded her of their mortal parents hate of messes. "With the number of injuries, I was going to die anyway without medical treatment. But they wanted me to die then and there. Quick and Quiet. Lauren pulled out her insulin and kept giving me shots till I died."

Mal shuddered. "Was it painful?"

Michael shrugged. "I was already in so much pain I don't think I noticed."

Mal nodded, "Then I guess we can get to the important matters." She looked at him with a curious expression. "I take it I will be hearing a summed-up version of the history of this place before we can get to the situation with Ares and me?"

Michael chuckled as he too sat back to get comfortable. "You always were scary right and eager for stories."

Mal merely grinned and looked around. Then looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. "Well, it proved to be the right thing to do."

Everyone had to laugh at that. There really was no argument for that.

 **}TLCW{**

Michael told them all, minus Ares, as this was all a repeat lesson for him, at least the beginning was, the true history as Michael coined it.

When eternity was young, the Gods came into existence, they proceeded to travel away, closing themselves off into alternate dimensions, creating several thousands of worlds in their image. The God they recognized, and the angels that followed, stayed here. At first, she didn't create things, but she grew lonely. So she created the angels, warriors, and protectors. Friends whom she needed. Out of them, the first, Michael, was the only one who could understand her language.

"Before anyone reacts, yes, God was a she." Michael said with a raised hand to stall questions. "Obviously this throws the whole Christian Bible out the door, but that's not important right now. We've got a lot to get through, so questions are best kept till later."

The Goddess went on to create several worlds, all of them were interconnected by pathways unseen to the human eyes, but could be seen with magic. The worlds were uncountable. For every world there seemed to be at least a hundred in its same image where different choices were made, a different path was set for it.

It was because of this pathway that Merlin was able to travel the realms and why so many of them have stories of the great wizard. Each world told a different story. Morgana LeFey was a fae, true and born bred, who could naturally travel between the realms without the aid of a focus or vessel. As the Fae regularly traveled between their pocket dimension that held their homeland, a place they called Tir Na Nog, they could easily visit and live in other worlds that caught their fancy.

However, not all things were created by God, and evil in its purest form began to fester and infect the worlds. Demons, who existed in the void, fed off God's residual magic after she created things, creating a world for themselves. It was connected to the others, and they descended into the mortal realms gaining physical forms as they did so. They began to corrupt mankind. What ones they didn't devour for food, they changed them, twisted them, till the humans God created were demons too.

Realizing their goal was to corrupt all of God's creation, and eventually corrupt God, killing her if they failed, the angels moved quickly in defense. Some demons had already managed to leave this plane of existence to find the other Gods realms, so they had to stop the rest of them before they managed to escape

Lucifer, ever the warrior, led his army of angels down to the mortal realms, not bothering with mortal vessels, but full Angels in their divine glory so as to have all of their true power, and went to war with demons. They began to beat the demons back to their world hidden in the void. Meanwhile, in the afterlife, Michael and God worked tirelessly to close the pathways. Thus, preventing any travel between the realms. They also made sure to utterly destroy the pathways between the mortal realms and heaven to protect the resting souls there.

With the realms finally sealed off, all that was left was to seal the demons into the world where they came from. The vast majority of them at last sealed away, the pathways closed down, Lucifer and his legion went to each world and systematically killed any straggler demons that had been left behind. No matter how weak they were. Whether it was all that time slaying demons or that time around mortals, no one was sure why, but Lucifer and his army's wings turned black.

They began to experience mortal emotions and were soon no different than the mortals themselves in a lot of their actions. As Gabriel has said and thought many times, where the white wings and most other angels acted on thought and little emotion, the black wings acted on emotion first, logic be damned a lot of the time. It had become Lucifer's and his army natural reaction to act first and ask questions later.

While there were some who were horrified by this, Michael could find no fault in them. They were still the brothers and sisters he knew well, they were just no longer detached and driven by logic. It wasn't a bad thing; it was a new experience and one they all accepted.

However, as much as they wanted to believe the mortal realms were now better off and saved, they were wrong. Due to the presence of both evil and divine, seeing the divine change before their eyes, the mortal's points of view changed. The demons had succeeded in one quest, and the damage was irrevocably done. While mortals had sinned before yes, it was nothing compared to what they were doing now.

"The Crusades, the Dark Ages, the Witch Hunts," Michael listed off, "to name a few examples."

Heaven was no longer an option for these souls, and no matter how many times they were reborn, their sins just kept getting greater and greater.

Ultimately, it was Lucifer, who came up with the solution. Let him and his legion administer punishment so that perhaps the souls could learn their lesson be redeemed. Let him be the patsy, the "bad guy". He already was in their eyes according to several realms' universal religion. That way, the black wings had a purpose, where they could act on their emotions and there wasn't a mess for the others to clean up when they overreacted to something.

That way, they had a purpose, and a system in place to deal with the accumulating sinners and the ongoing corruption. While they may not be able to stop it right away, they would be able to systematically thin it down.

With God's approval, Michael, Lucifer, and Gabriel created Purgatory. From there, souls would be reborn, healed if needed by the Cherubs who set up an infirmary so they too could be of use, and judged. Lucifer created the Underworld where sinners would be punished for their sins before being sent back out to Gabriel's care in Purgatory to be reborn again. However, they soon learned that some souls would never be able to be redeemed. Rather than keep them among the ones that could be redeemed, Lucifer created Hell, a place where a soul who was so dark and could never earn redemption would be placed, until their soul ceased to exist.

"Tell them the best part." Gabriel grinned nudging Michael's side with his elbow.

Michael glared at Gabriel, but Mal caught the little bit of embarrassment Michael had in his cheeks.

"You're lovers with God." Mal said with a smile. "Aren't you?"

Michael looked a little taken aback before smiling at her, "Yes, we are. We have been since shortly after my creation. I think I was specifically made for that role, but she won't say one way to the other. She often grumbles that if she made me to be the perfect lover I wouldn't defy her as often as I do."

Mal threw her head back and laughed. The light of the stars in the cosmos beyond the flat land grew brighter, and what planets were near began to spin faster. Once stationary comets began to move at lightning speed. Gabriel, was shocked, having only heard the bells of Gods language when Mal laughed, Michael heard and saw it all. Looking back at Mal, he knew whatever her destiny was, it was greater than even he knew.

"Yes." Michael confirmed again. "I am lovers with God. While she can't have any children physically, it's because of our union that mortal souls were born in the first place. There are, most usually, no accidents when it comes to the grand design."

He went on to explain had God not created the angels, and thus her creating the mortal souls with him, they never would have known about the existence of the demons. Had they not beaten back the demons, they would not have been able to create the elaborate afterlife that they had. While she was confusing and frustrating, even he had to concede there was often a reason why the woman did what she did. Even if she neglected to tell him until it was almost finished.

After the afterlife was set up the way they wanted it to be, God went into seclusion in her temple where only Michael and the other Arch Angels could get into. During a meeting, that same day, Michael, Lucifer, and Gabriel all agreed they could never ever do that again. They could never again enter the mortal realm in their full glory. As mortals yes, but as full angels, no.

Reason being; humanity had changed so much because of the mere presence of angels and demons. Extreme religions were born, and humanity began to commit vicious acts in the name of those religions as he explained before. Few if any, held the real truth of God, and God saw more harm than good in the results of trying to reeducate them while they were still mortals. Which is why the knowledge was kept readily available in the afterlife. So the souls could slowly learn the truth.

If a world was in dire need of a savior, they made it where a mortal soul would have to deal with the problem, with the backing of the angels. Angels could descend into the world if they wished without a mortal body, but God made it to where their physical bodies had no form now. They were vaporous in nature, and no mortal eye could see them.

While they wanted to do the same with the demons, they had no physical bodies left of the demons, and such spells took a lot out of God to cast.

"There's more," Michael said with a sigh, "there's another matter which I must come clean about, and that's why I gave an overview of our history before I got to this point." He glanced up at Mal and Ares, "This isn't the first time your souls have met in this place. This first time was just over two thousand years ago."

Mal and Ares looked at each other shocked.

"The same two thousand years that brought the reshuffling of souls to a different world so they wouldn't stagnant and led to soul healing in the infirmary?" Mal asked.

Michael nodded. "At the time of Purgatory's creation, with the demons sealed away, and the mortal realms closed off, I decreed whatever souls were born into a world, that would be the world they would live and die in till they earned Heaven or joined the rank of angels, or sinned badly enough to warrant Hell."

He sighed, "God kept trying to get me to reshuffle souls, warning me that the worlds would stagnate, but I ignored her. I was so set in my ways, I didn't want the pathways to reopen again, and I feared, even if we did it here, the pathways would open."

He explained it was at that time, two souls met in the afterlife. No one was sure how, as no angel had allowed this, but they met and begged to be together in their next life. However, they were from different worlds, and Michael refused to allow it. They were separated and thrown back into their own worlds.

God, was furious with him. She expected him to figure it out that she set them up and come to her ranting and raving, but he didn't. So, in retaliation, she created a onetime wormhole and sent Mal through to Ares in another world.

However, their souls, which were already damaged to begin with, came back broken from that life after Ares was forced to watch her die in front of him. Meanwhile, she was under the belief it was because of him she was being killed. Which is what led to their broken state.

God took their souls then and put them back together herself. She refused to let the artisans touch them, knowing they would have been thrown away because of how broken they were. She put them back together and healed their souls until they were ready to return to the mortal realms.

"So why were we separated this time!?" Ares demanded furiously.

Michael looked at him with a calm expression, "Because you carry pieces of the other's soul within you. Just as you have pieces of Mal's, she has pieces of yours."

This silenced Ares and he sat back with Mal while they waited for Michael to finish explaining.

"You see, I can tell you that you're meant to be together all you want, and I can write a divine decree till my hand bleeds, but what form your mortal lives will take I can't always control." Michael explained. "I lack the power and time. So say you two were put in the same world, having pieces of the other in you, there would be no stopping the two of you from being together. In the case of the life we're sending you to soon is a good thing, but imagine if you will," Michael said leaning forward, "That Mal had been born your twin Ares."

This shocked the couple as they understood where Michael was going with this.

"Whether one of you was twenty and the other was ten, whether one of you was thirty-seven, while the other was seventeen, wouldn't have mattered if you were married to other people, wouldn't have mattered if you were related in any way shape or form," Michael eyed them critically, "You would have come together as a couple. Depending on your mindsets at the time, you could have become a worse evil than Dumbledore and Voldemort combined in your attempt to stay together."

Michael sat back and smiled at them. "You would have latched on to each other as you have now and not let go. You were always meant to come together again. You were meant the first time, but I was too stubborn to see it."

"What he's not adding, is that we were hoping Ares would have saved his world by this point." Gabriel sighed. "Mortal choices being what they are, we had no way of knowing what was going to happen. We put Mal with another angel so they could care for her until Ares had completed the task that was set before him. Once he was finished, we would have presented Mal to him, and offered any world you guys wanted."

Mal raised an eyebrow unamused. "I'm a prize now?"

Gabriel winced and Michael chuckled. "Sort of, I was hoping to keep you out of the fray. Thinking you'd suffered enough in that first life." He met her eyes, his look of loathing unmasked. "Had we known what was happening sooner, Rida would be dead, and I would have thrown you at Ares. Consequences be damned."

Mal looked at Ares, remembering the black haired emerald green-eyed man he had been. Seeing the golden yellow-eyed pitch haired man that he was now. It didn't matter what he looked like, at least not to her, he was still the same person. He still felt the same, his soul was the same.

"At least now I know why I was always in love with you." She said curling up in his arms. "And why after meeting you here, I couldn't bear to part with you. Some part of me always knew that it was always going to be you."

Ares wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head before nuzzling in closer. "The moment I saw you, I knew I loved you. The moment you came here, I never wanted to let you go."

"This situation, while it was once rare, it not rare in the world you now hail from Ares." Michael explained. "I'm sure you've heard of it."

"True love," Ares said smiling at her, "Though I think you mean soul bonds."

Michael nodded. "The moment you two reunited here, your souls bonded in a way that can never be undone. If one soul is destroyed, it will destroy the other. That's how you were able to overcome my divine law in that test life. You were soul bonded."

"And the moment we reunite in Ares's world, our world now," Mal said with a smile, "The same will happen there. Marriage contracts in his true name aside, nothing can circumvent that."

Ares sighed, "That's a relief. At least we don't have to worry about others coming between us."

"That's not to say they will not try." Mal mused softly.

Everyone looked at her and realized the faraway look in her eyes. All recognized it for the prophecy that it was.

Gabriel shook his head. "Some daughter you have there, Michael. She truly is the daughter of the Goddess."

 **}TLCW{**

They took a break to stretch their legs, walking around the grounds and the gardens a bit. After a while, they once again congregated in the library. Once again, while the others still sat on the chairs, watching eagerly, Gabriel sat with Mal and Ares at a table. Michael opted to stand nearby, with his arms folded across his chest.

"Alright, I have the final contract." Gabriel said setting a glowing document of several pages before them. "But before we begin, there is one thing I'm going to give Mal the option to change." He said briefly glancing at Ares. "One creature, any creature so long as it's magical," He said looking back at her, "You're allowed to change."

"Werewolves." She said without a moment's hesitation. "I want to combine the werewolves/ shifters from the Twilight series and the Mercy Thompson series. Wolf forms, but larger, a painless change, and they keep their minds, at peace with their inner wolves, and coexist. Similar to animagi, only when the full moon rises, they have no choice, but to change. However, they can change at will any time in between. Of course, people will still hunt them for sport or their pelts, and bigots won't like that they turning into animals of course. Because in the bigot's eyes, they are essentially animals because there is no cure. Which will explain their lack of rights, and the hunting them. However, with these changes, I believe that even with Greyback leading a faction to support Voldemort, I don't think there will be as many, or as powerful."

"Why's that?" Ares asked in amazement.

"Because combining the two," Gabriel said looking up, "She's making their bite ineffective, it's only by birth that werewolves can be made." Gabriel looked up at Remus, "It would mean instead of being bitten, that your mother would have been raped instead. However, I can make it to where regardless, you were your parents' son, and they still loved you very much."

Remus nodded, still at a loss for words.

Ares looked at Mal surprised, "But, I thought for sure you would change the mermaids, I know of your love for them. Why would you change the wolves and not them so you swim in the ocean with them?"

Mal smiled at Ares, "Because the werewolves live among us, while the merpeople are not really a part of the war. By changing the wolves to be similar to the way you were in our last life, it will be a huge benefit. For one, we will gain their allegiance in the war, and for two, it will mean that an easier life for Remus and his kind after the Battle of Hogwarts."

It was then Mal noticed the shift in the room, before, it was patience and acceptance for no matter what came. Now, there was pride bursting in all of them and happiness to the point of tears. Mal looked around a little shocked.

"Why is it so surprising that I would choose this?" She asked looking around. "I may love mermaids and wish I had been one, and I won't lie, sometimes I still will. That's not a wish that can vanish overnight, but I'm not foolish enough to make a request that would see our cause fail." She smiled and took Ares's hand. "I'm sure we'll have other lives, and in one of them, I'll get to be a mermaid, possibly more than once. I can wait another life or two."

"If I wasn't already in love with you," Ares said with a grin, "I would have fallen just then. I have a feeling I'm going to be thinking and saying that a lot."

Remus came up, pulled Mal to her feet and hugged her tightly. "Thank you so much. Thank you, Lioness."

"She is quite Regal." James said with a grin.

Everyone present knew that her and Ares's animagi were lions first and foremost, with a second form that was an eagle. Mal and Ares decided to spare their minds the shock at having a third Animagus. So they kept the wolf forms to themselves.

Mal grinned from Remus's arms, knowing that she just got her Marauder name. "I solemnly swear that I will live up to the name and my place in Marauders."

Sitting back at the table, Gabriel went over the contract with Mal and Ares. Going back with their memories, a freebie that Gabriel was giving them was Hedwig, which greatly pleased Ares, he'd missed his owl. Fawkes, so that the bird would get rid of Ares's Horcrux and change his appearance. Dobby, so Ares core would be unlocked and later help Ares with anything he needed.

Mal sighed with relief. "They will be an immense help."

"I don't doubt it." Ares agreed. He gave Gabriel a grimace, "Just curb his obsession please."

"The torture made him that bad." Gabriel explained. "Then Dumbledore's ordering him to leave you alone."

They sat for an immeasurable length of time, going over the contract. Going over each favor, and how they would seem to come about, and how to handle the situation. They would be learning occlumency while here so as to protect their secrets, and go over the memories from before they were popped into the life they were being sent to. So that way when they began to interact with people, they could act accordingly with the relevant information.

Further, Gabriel went on to explain who was going back with their memories, and why. This was non-negotiable, and once he explained his reasoning, Ares begrudgingly understood. Course it helped when Mal held his hand and gave him a patient smile. They had talked about this, getting the most help, for the best possible outcome, even if it didn't make a whole lot of sense in the beginning.

Once finished, Ares went over his hit list, not at all concerned about hiding his rage, not sparing his family the knowledge that he intended to kill every person on that list. At the top were Voldemort and Dumbledore. Others on the list included his former best friend, and his two previous wives, and of course the Lestrange's, in particular, Bellatrix, who was responsible for dealing the death blow to Sirius. The Dursley's needed no explanation as to why.

Snape had been on that list for the years of bullying and torture. However, after learning the truth from his family, he resolved to attempt to save him. If he couldn't, he would put Snape out of his misery quickly. Snape would be freed from a fate worse than death, and Dumbledore would lose a pawn. Win-win in his mind.

Mal noticed the grimace and worried look James and Lily passed between them. While they didn't like the callousness of Ares's tone, they understood why he felt that way, and even they agreed. If Snape could not be saved, then he would die.

Gabriel then went over his "save" list, and why. Most Ares could understand until they got to the last name. Bellatrix.

"What!?" Ares thundered as he rushed to his feet outraged.

"Bellatrix was forced into a marriage contract by Sirius's mothers." Gabriel explained patiently. "In it, was an obedience clause that might as well have made the whole thing a slave contract, she was forced into servitude by the Lestrange's who repeatedly tortured her with that curse she favored and raped her. They ordered her to pledge her services to Voldemort and follow his orders as if they were her Lords. She was actually a sweet girl who was in love with Arthur Weasley until she was sold off like cattle and Molly love potioned Arthur to her and not Bellatrix."

To prove his point, a pink winged angel entered the library with a small child. Flecks of multicolored crystal were floating around her as she cried. Her long, ring curled black hair surrounded the small girl and her cheeks were stained with tears as she cried.

"Bella." Sirius crooned heartbrokenly.

It really was the very same woman who had killed him. For he'd seen this image of her on the family walls when she was announced to the rest of the magical world at a ball. A floor length white dress, with a baby pink ribbon woven around the collar, the cuffs of the sleeves, and around the waist.

All Mall saw, was a hurting child.

"This is the last time she was truly innocent." Gabriel sighed. "It was after this that Walburga and her parents started to torture her when she misbehaved. Among other things."

Mal was the first to move, the pink winged angel watched a little worried, knowing that those in the room had not cared for the woman in life.

"How long as she been like this?" Mal asked looking to the angel as she walked forward.

"Since she arrived here in death, ma'am." The angel answered, recognizing the kindness and there wasn't any ill intent in Mal. Her thick accent came through even in as an angel, though Mal couldn't tell if it was Scottish or Irish, as her attention was focused on Bellatrix.

Mal lowered herself down so she was face to face with the girl. "And these flecks of crystal surrounding her?"

"Her soul ma'am." The angel sighed. "We've tried and tried to heal her, but we're having so much trouble with it. Even the artisans are at a loss. All the girl does is cry, and it seems she can't forgive herself, despite the fact that she is innocent. She fought against the orders she was given with her very soul, and the result is what we see now."

Ares sat back down stunned. All hatred ebbing away at the sight of the broken soul before him. "If her soul can't be fixed, then she can't be saved."

"And we most likely wouldn't be able to heal her enough in time put her back in her body as we will with you." Gabriel nodded. "We would have to put a different soul in that body, and it will likely be a very evil Bellatrix from another world. Not having observed her former lives, I couldn't tell you if this would work in our favor or not. I was hoping that you would agree to forgive her so her soul could start to heal."

With that last comment, Gabriel had looked around the room pleadingly.

Mal held out her arms to the girl. "Come here sweetheart," she smiled softly at the crying girl who couldn't have been more than three. "I won't hurt you."

Bellatrix, unsure at first, didn't move, but neither did Mal. Soft smile still in place, she didn't move her arms either. Slowly, the girl made her way from the angel to Mal. Carefully, Mal lifted the girl, the pieces of her soul following as they surrounded the girl. Mal noticed the breaks in the girl's skin, she noticed that certain crystals were the same shape. Testing to see if she was right, she slowly turned, rocking Bellatrix who was still sobbing, she took hold of a crystal and pushed into one of the cracks on the girl.

She watched curiously as the piece fit into the crack and broken part, and heal over. She slowly did that with other pieces, having forgotten the others in the room, and the angel behind her. After thirty or so pieces were fit back, Bellatrix slowly stopped crying and drifted off to sleep in Mal's arms.

She looked to see everyone staring at her in shock again. Especially the angels and Ares.

"Uh," She looked around nervously. "What did I do now?

The cherub gulped. "You just put the pieces of a broken soul back together ma'am! I've never heard of a mere soul being able to do such a thing!"

"She's no mere soul." Michael said standing glaring at the Cherub, "There is a reason she's a high priority case."

"Well, I can see that!" The Cherub said indignantly, her hands on her hips. "A soul that can have the truth of that horrible Rida revealed has the blessing of two Arch Angels watching over her, not mention healing another soul is not a mere anything!"

She looked at Mal with narrowed eyes. "This will be your tenth life will it not?"

Mal nodded, "Yes, ma'am."

"Mark my words my lady, you will be an angel by the time your mission is through." The Cherub pointed a finger at Mal. "And not a fledgling like Rida, not some pompous arse like that Stephan fellow who promoted her either. No, you, my dear lass will have a power that can rival an Arch Angel."

The Cherub looked at Ares who had come to stand behind Mal. "You as well laddie."

She sighed and raised her hands, "But I'm not but a Cherub healer is not my place to go getting involved with such plots." She nodded to Gabriel and Michael. "I'll be taking my leave now since it's clear that her soul is in good hands. I'd wager she'll be ready for mortal life again in far better shape than if she had been left with us. At the very least it's less work for us, and work that we felt we couldn't handle since we weren't really helping."

With that, she turned and left and Mal was left shaking her head.

Mal turned and smiled at Ares. "Sorry, but I have to agree with Gabriel on this one." She looked down at the sleeping Bellatrix who now clung to Mal's dress in her sleep. Soft tears still flowing from her eyes. "She reminds me a lot of me, I'm sure I looked similar after Lauren abandoned me in the middle of winter at this age."

Michael snarled having heard Mal, though she knew it was in reference to her mortal mother.

Ares, looking down at the little girl in Mal's arms, couldn't believe that this was the notorious Bellatrix Lestrange. He remembered the mad woman cackling as she attacked with sadistic or deadly force. He remembered the madness in her eyes. But looking at the child's face, which blinked awake for a moment, and soft gray eyes landing on him, he saw the innocence in there. The grief. So much it seemed she was drowning in it. As she passed back out in Mal's arms, he sighed.

He couldn't hate her, not anymore. Knowing how powerful magical contracts and vows in the Wizarding World were, he knew that was very likely to go insane from being forced to do something against your will, or against your very nature. At least the potions from a young age made him think it was his own doing. With the contracts, Bellatrix knew, but couldn't fight it physically. Fighting it internally broke her soul to this state.

No, he couldn't hate her. And loathe as he was to admit it, he even began to forgive her. Especially seeing as she couldn't let go of Mal. Clinging to her as if her life depended on it.

With even more to think about now than before, every one of the souls ascended to the next level and went to sleep. Mal wanted to put Bellatrix in one of the baby beds, but Ares let Bellatrix sleep with them. He held Mal from behind as Bellatrix slept in Mal's arms.

 **}TLCW{**

Deciding to stay there, they sat in the library drinking a special wine that angels made in front of the fire.

"Well," Gabriel hiccupped, "You heard Gerda, they're to be angels, and almost as powerful as us!"

Michael merely glared into the flames. "Mal will be more than that someday."

"A Goddess maybe?" Gabriel asked hiccupping again.

Michael nodded, "My theory as well, however, my love will not answer me if it will be true."

"Regardless," Ares said from the doorway, causing the two drunken Arch Angels to look back at him, "She's mine."

"For all eternity I imagine." Michael sighed with a slow wave of his hand. "You're welcome to that and I give you my blessing son."

"As if I needed your permission." Ares scoffed as he sat down with them and helped himself to the wine. He looked at Michael critically. "I take it Arnold and Lauren are in Hell?"

He nodded. "The souls from that world are yes. However, another incarnation of Lauren exists in your world. Every world has a Doppelganger, and Lauren's will be Mal's birth mother. At least this time. It will suit the purposes of getting her existence known in that world, and there won't be any new information for her to process."

Ares nodded understanding. "I knew about the doppelgangers in every world. I take it that's why God said souls can be put into different worlds. Same body, different soul."

"Something like that." Michael shrugged. "Personally, I think the artisans got lazy and thought once was enough and created copies. Original work is so hard to come by these days."

Ares laughed then took a deep drink. He sat with the angels for a long time in silence. "I've decided what angel I will be."

Both Arch Angels looked at him skeptically.

"Shouldn't you," Gabriel was interrupted by a burb before he continued, "talk about this with Mal first?"

Ares shook his head, "I believe she already knows where I'll end up, and would be surprised if I didn't."

"You're taking Satan up on his offer, aren't you?" Michael asked him.

Satan, the leader of the black wings, was the Arch Angel formerly known as Lucifer. For shits and giggles, he changed his name after so many souls called him Satan upon their entry to Purgatory. So finally, one day, when a soul called him that, he just grinned and confirmed it was his name. The look on the soul's face made him laugh, so he kept the change for now.

"If souls could shit themselves, he would have!" Satan roared with laughter when he told Ares that story.

Ares nodded. "I'm driven by emotion, I know that." Ares took a sip and stared into the flames deep in contemplation. "More than that," He looked into Michael's hazel eyes, fury and fire reflected in his now glowing yellow ones, "I want to punish the ones who hurt Mal. The ones who hurt me. I know they will all be headed to Hell for their crimes. Especially Petunia and Arnold. Lauren and Vernon for defending them and helping them hurt children. I want to be one of the angels who tears them apart piece by piece till they cease to exist."

"I had a feeling," Michael sighed, "I knew from the moment Satan tried to claim your soul that's where you were headed."

Gabriel barked with laughter, "You knew!? I knew the second he started to throw tantrums in my office!" He wagged a finger in Michael's face. "Do you have, _burp_ , any idea how hard it was to keep Satan from stepping in to lay claim on him sooner?"

Michael nodded, "That's why I told him to stay away for now. Regardless of who watches over him, he will end up a Guardian of the Underworld and Hell, but I need a person with a level head to watch over his lives and not make the situation worse."

"PSSH!" Gabriel spat. "Do you know how many times I wanted to go down and smite those bitches who hurt our boy here!"

Michael glared at him. "No more than I want to march into Mal's former world and paint that town with the blood of the cult members, I assure you."

Michael poured himself another glass and downed it in a single gulp.

 _If that's how they were drinking, it was no wonder they were drunk_. Ares thought.

"I don't foresee anything changing for you in the way of your status as an angel." Michael rasped out. "I can't say what the future holds." He met Ares's eyes, "But knowing that Mal is eventually going to be more than an angel, I wouldn't be surprised if you eventually became more than angel yourself."

Ares drank a bit more with the Arch Angels in silence before going back up his room with Mal, leaving the Arch Angels to nurse their wounds with their alcohol. When he got there, he saw Mal was getting out of bed.

"There you are!" She gushed and wrapped her arms around him. "I woke up and you weren't here! I decided to wait and put some more of Bellatrix's soul back together since I noticed there were more breaks to fill, but when I finished all that I could you still weren't back."

"I was with the Arch Angels who are getting drunk." He giggled, while he wasn't as drunk as the Arch Angels, he was still pretty wasted.

"Figures." She said rolling her eyes. "I'm going to have to take care of you after you get drunk, aren't I?"

He laughed, as he grabbed her and pulled her in for a deep searing kiss.

"More than likely." He said when they finally parted. He gestured toward the bed with his chin. "How is she?"

"Well," Mal said directing him to the toward the bed, "She's not crying in her sleep anymore. I think she might actually wake up tomorrow."

Ares sighed.

She looked at him a little worried. "Do you still hate her?"

He shook his head. "No, and it's a sad reminder that things aren't as black and white in that world as I would have liked them to be."

"If it makes you feel better," Mal said with a grin, "Pretty sure your ex-wives will be that cut and dry."

He grinned at her. "You always know how to make me feel better."

They laid down, this time with Bellatrix between them and drifted off to sleep.

 **}TLCW{**

"Mama Angel?"

Mal felt a soft hand patting her cheek.

"Mama Angel?"

The soft voice of a little girl was reaching her, but still, Mal was reluctant to wake up.

"Come on little one, leave her be." She heard Ares grunt.

"Mama Angel not up yet."

Mal opened her eyes and Bellatrix's hand on her cheek as she pouted at Ares who was standing at the foot of the bed with his arms crossed over his chest.

Mal sat up and smiled at them both, "Good morning."

"Mama Angel awake!" Bellatrix squealed.

Mal looked at Bellatrix with a warm smile, her heart warming at hearing the girls nickname for her.

Ares saw the longing in his wife's eyes. Any grudge he held had vanished the day before, but now, his heart melted. Bellatrix's innocence was a plain as day, and the way she openly cared for Mal, he couldn't keep his heart cold toward her.

In the library, with the sobered Arch Angels, Mal and Ares signed the contract, and Gabriel left to file it away and keep it safe.

"Rest up." Michael told them. "Tomorrow, the training begins."

No matter where Mal went that day, Bellatrix followed hot on her heels. Every once in a while, they would stop, and Mal would put some pieces of Bellatrix's soul back together.

Who apparently wanted to be called Bella, or Trixie.

Seeing how great Mal was with Bella, as they had taken to calling the girl, he once again vowed they would have children. Many children. He grinned, knowing they already had, and he looked forward to doing it all over again.

 **}TLCW{**

The Cherubs couldn't be happier with their lot in life. Before, they were choir angels, and while some of them could sing, they had nowhere near the talent as the Artisans and didn't have the passion for it.

The mortals' view of them didn't help with their self-image issues. Seeing the Cherubs as nothing but babies with tiny wings wearing old fashion cloth diapers, if they wore anything at all. That had not made them happy.

So when the obvious need for healers arose, they jumped on the chance to actually be useful before another group of angels could put forth the idea. With their new jobs approved and encouraged, they built their infirmary in Purgatory. Soon, they catered to both angels and souls. They were indeed happy with their work.

Only, not today. Or the last week if they were being honest.

To say that no one in Purgatory liked Rida was an understatement. Since her promotion, all an angel had to do was meet her once, and they hated her with a passion unbefitting an angel. They could complain to the higher-ups about her, but as she was promoted by the Head Angel Stephan, all complaints about her were fielded to him, and he was in her corner all the way.

Needless to say, this dropped his popularity by a large margin. If he needed something in any department, be it the artisans, or the Infirmary, he was given the barest minimum and always at the lowest quality. Not that he seemed to notice, if he did, he chucked it up to them being corrupted. What utter nonsense. They were hardly corrupted.

Every last angel would say it was Stephan and his lackeys who were the corrupt ones. With Rida being the worst one of them.

That particular day, and for the many that passed previously, they all avoided a certain room. They drew straws several times a day before a very unlucky Cherub entered the room where Rida was staying while under their care.

She had come in from Gabriel's office. Apparently, he'd ordered her to come straight here, and she didn't listen. Another angel found her and dropped her in the infirmary before begging to be seen to make sure they didn't get infected by her.

Rida's wings were without feathers, down to their skeletal frame. But rather than the white leathery skin over the bone, it was black and withered. Festering with infection, bleeding in places where the skin had fallen off with the feathers, and rot from where the infection had burrowed deep.

She had to stay there for several days, and none of the Cherubs were happy about it. While they were happy to finally see her taken down a peg, they were not happy about having to deal with her. She was unbearable before, now, she was just a nightmare.

The entire first day there, she wailed, complained, and made impossible demands. They had to treat her infection before they could do anything. Being the unreasonable person that she is, at first, she refused. She would not let them touch her, she demanded to see Sir Stephan. She would not submit to any of their heretic treatments until he was present and assured her it was alright.

She was the only one to call Stephan, Sir Stephan, and everyone, on principle, pretended to not know whom she was talking about.

After her eighteenth refusal for treatment, and the umpteenth time the Cherub tried to explain no one could see her till the infection was cleared; the Cherub did the only logical thing there was left to do.

She walked out and waited.

There was an easy and a rather fun way to deal with the situation Rida was in; let her fester. While an infection such as this was rare, it was not unheard of, and if it was one thing that the Cherubs knew, was it was painful. It was just a matter of time before Rida realized this herself, and the Cherubs would patiently wait until she did.

Such infections came when an angel was promoted too soon, and reacted violently when the truth was shown to them and it proved contrary to what their soul so fiercely believed. Rida wasn't their first cast like this, though she was the first in a few hundred years.

The infection was treatable. However, much like the mortal world, they couldn't do anything until the angel had given permission. The patient had to want the treatment before it could work. Such was the power of this place, and it's healing. Intent. So even if the Cherubs had overridden Rida's desire, and treated her anyway, it wouldn't have worked.

So they sat and waited. For the first day, all they heard was Rida's rants about an ungrateful slut of a charge. How said charge was the future Devil Queen. How it was the charge's fault that Rida was even in this situation. How things would change once Sir Stephan finally put his plans into action and the afterlife was made right once more.

The more she ranted, the more one thing was clear; Rida's situation was entirely her fault.

On the second day, it seemed Rida had calmed down enough to realize she was in pain. While Cherubs knew it was painful, the bloodcurdling screams were not appropriate. Amidst the screaming and tears, they finally managed some level of consent and began the treatment.

If only for their peace of mind, they also took it a step further and knocked her out as much as they could as well.

Several days later, the infection was gone, and Rida's wings were beginning to grow back. Only, instead of the glowing pure white they had been before, they were now a dull, flat, light gray.

Rida panicked when she saw their color, blaming them for the change. Putting the reason up to mistreatment, or something outrageous along those lines. When that tactic failed to get her any attention, she demanded as many tests as they could perform to ascertain why this was happening.

Since that was their orders anyway, they performed all of the tests they had.

The Cherubs knew why her wing color had changed, but they kept their mouths shut. If nothing else it kept her away from her former charge and the priority case Gabriel, and now Michael were personally handling. Satan was involved as well, but to what extent, they did not know.

Their choice to protect the former charge was proven right when Gerda returned, absent of the broken soul she had left with.

"I tell you it was nothing like I'd ever seen before!" Gerda told them in hushed excited tones. "The soul, she simply picked the girl up and started putting the pieces right back in place! As if she could see where the breaks were!"

"That's impossible!" Another Cherub gasped, "We have to have special equipment for that, and you're telling me that a soul could do it freehand!?"

Gerda nodded. "That's what I'm telling you! Not even the Artisans can do that!"

Another Cherub, the Arch Angel Ephraim, smiled. "Sounds like we've got another Goddess in the making."

All the Cherubs turned to him in shock, he nodded. "I've seen the Goddess herself put souls back together in such a way. She did the same with the couple back over two thousand years ago when they broke apart. That's how she created the soul bonds that we see today, by placing pieces of the other's soul into their destined partner."

The Cherubs talked excitedly amongst themselves after that. Whoever this Mal was, she had just won the allegiance of all of the Cherubs, and she hadn't even spoken a word to them.

It was for her sake, they detained Rida, for longer than initially thought possible. In the end, they'd run every test they had, they did everything they could think of. They even made up several tests and procedures off the top of their heads to put Rida through. But there was nothing more they could do now, every test had been run and there were no more new ideas without letting Rida know she'd been duped.

It was the day they had been both dreading and praying for; it was the day they had to set her free.

"Well!?" Rida demanded when a Cherub walked in. "Have you incompetents found out what's wrong with my wings yet!?"

She hadn't paid attention to any of them, they were all the same in her eyes. Had she known this was an Arch Angel, she might have reacted more reserved. Knowing this was why Ephraim decided to handle this meeting. He'd put this Cherubs through enough stress, he could deal with one trumped up Fledgling.

"Oh, we've actually known for quite some time." Ephraim said. His arms folded behind his back. The Clipboard hovering in front of his face with all of the relevant information about her stay there.

"What!?" Rida shrieked. "Why wasn't I informed before!?"

"Simple" He shrugged, "We didn't want you to run out of here and cause trouble for the Arch Angels or your former charge again." He glared slightly as he continued. "Even if we hadn't been ordered to, we would have kept you here. Detaining you for some time was a benefit for everyone, and while we enjoyed making you suffer, we Cherub's will be quite happy to see you leave our care."

She returned his glare. "Before my charge was taken from me, no one would have dared said that."

"Actually, we said it. A lot." Ephraim informed her. "I assure you my fellow Arch Angels and I said some very creative things in regards to you and your personality. None of them were flattering."

Rida reeled back as if struck and shaking her head from the shock of what was just said.

"As I was fixing to say before you opened that poisoned pit you call a mouth," He said looking to his clipboard so he could read what was on it. "We've done every test we have available, and tests we just made up on the spot. It should be of interest for you to know that those might actually be useful in the future for a few cases we've had trouble with."

He rubbed his chin before he shook his head and looked back at Rida. "Your wings are now gray, and it's by your own doing. There's nothing medical about it, nor is there anything we can do to help you."

Rida stared at him horrified, and heartbroken.

Ephraim didn't care. He couldn't even pretend to. Not after learning what she did to her charge and why she was here. This was justice, Karma coming back to bite her. In his mind, she'd more than earned the suffering she endured, and whatever happened next. He knew Michael well enough to know the changing color of her wings was the least of Rida's worries.

"But, how-"

"It seems you let yourself be fueled with rage. Not just any rage, mind you, but murderous rage. You intended to act on this rage and inflict harm on one or more people." He said cutting her off before she could ask that stupid question.

At her pout, he shook his head, "There's no sense in denying it. I'm as old as the other Arch Angels, and I know a case of an insubordinate fledgling who was put into work too soon. You never even went through the courses, did you?"

Rida looked away with a scowl. "Sir Stephan said I did not need it."

" _ **Stephan**_!" Ephraim corrected her, venom dripping from his voice as he spoke down to her. " _Stephan_ is not the be all or end all of the Heavens, that's God! _Stephan_ is not the ultimate authority among the angels, that's Michael. _Stephan_ has no right to stop angels from taking the program. _Stephan_ is a lowly angel! It goes Fledgling, guardian or whatever occupation has you, head angel. _Stephan_ is merely the third stepping stone of the corporate ladder, yet you worship him as if he was on the highest level. Which is only held by the Arch Angels, there are at least fifteen different levels between him and the Arch Angels."

He listed off each point, being as brutal as he could to drive the concept home.

"Fifteen!?" She whispered looking at him in shock.

"At least!"

Rida shook her head, whether because she didn't believe him, or because she was in a state of shock, he wasn't sure.

"My recommendations are to go through the courses." Ephraim said making a note on his clipboard. "Perhaps after that, along with constant meditation and logical choosing, you might be able to get your white wings back. However," He glared at her again, "I doubt it. It's rare for an angel who has fallen from their white wings due to emotion to get them back. Even if you went through the rebirth cycle again, and were given the status of an angel in the future, you still would have grey wings."

With that, he handed her a note. "It's time you leave this place, Rida. Keep in mind you come back to us in that state again, we will heal you, but after you're healed, we'll strip you of your wings and then we will shove you into the underworld kicking and screaming ourselves or put you back in the rebirth cycle. Such is my authority. The other Arch Angels trust my judgment and will not question me. There is nothing your precious Stephan can do to stop me if that's what I wish. By the time he has the thought to, you will already be beyond his reach. Permanently."

Rida's shaking hand took the note but said nothing and she would not meet his eyes.

"I suggest you go make yourself comfortable in the barracks if you don't go into the courses. You're still under investigation, so be mindful of that. Also," He said as he walked out. When he looked back at her, her eyes were still on the floor, "Do not cause trouble for anyone; Michael's already on the verge of killing you as it is. That's a mercy considering what he's done to others who've gone against him."

Having said all there was to say, Ephraim left the room, and Rida soon left the infirmary. He sent a missive off to Gabriel, knowing he needed to be warned that Rida was once more on the loose and to be on guard. After that, he and his fellow Cherubs celebrated with wine.

They didn't do this often, and he made sure the ones on shift only had half a cup. They'd more than earned this after what they had to put up with.

 **}TLCW{**

Rida was beside herself with grief. She indeed went to her room in the barracks which had taken the form of her old room at the convent. She had seen the other angels in the barracks as well. Lost in her own misery, she spared enough attention to notice they were all followers of Sir Stephan. After that, they faded from significance.

She winced remembering that Cherubs words. He had been vicious when correcting her and made sure to say Sir Stephan's name with as much contempt as possible. She, of course, couldn't stop the habit of speaking or thinking, his name without that honorific. She felt he had earned that title, and couldn't think of him in any other way.

For her, he had been the ultimate angel. The ultimate authority.

However, she realized now how flawed that thinking was. God, was the ultimate authority. The Arch Angels below him. Yet she had blatantly ignored their orders. She could understand the hostility toward her now. Especially her fellow comrades in Sir Stephan's plans for the afterlife.

But at the same time, she had to wonder what she did wrong?

She retraced her steps and came back to when Sir Stephan had taken her aside and gave her charge. Her first ever charge.

Sir Stephan's orders when he gave her the paperwork for that girl's soul were sweet and to the point: Follow Michael's instructions exactly as they were written. Michael would call upon Rida for possession of Mal's soul again after Gabriel had finished with his priority case. She would have stayed with Gabriel, but because he had the priority case, and that took up all of his time. So he passed the soul off to Sir Stephan, showing how much they trusted him.

Sir Stephan gave her the charge because of his complete faith in her. He was busy with the new recruits, so it was on her to take of this important case. She glowed under the praise and was more than ready. She kept her training at the front of her mind, and carefully read through the file with due diligence. Determined to not mess this up.

She was filled with glee that her charge was from her homeworld and that they were even from the same community. However, when Rida saw the fate of her precious sect, she was mortified. Having been raised, and lived her life by their rules, to find out they were going to be brutally shut down by outsiders was sickening. She saw that her charge was going to be the catalyst for their destruction, she was in tears. Many of its members would be arrested and sent to prison for the rest of their lives. Several would die during the raid. A few committing suicide to escape their fate at the hands of the outsiders.

That her charge would be responsible for this travesty, Rida would not stand for it. She had thought for a moment about requesting someone else care for this charge, but in the end, she kept it. She had defended her communities' ways in life, and now, she would defend them in death. She was resolved to spare her people the terrible fate that awaited them.

Having heard the other angels talk about Gabriel's priority charge and his contract, she was confused, but it sparked a hope inside of her. She immediately went to Sir Stephan's friend in Records, Robert. He had chocolate brown eyes, with equally chocolate brown hair, and he always had a smile for her. He was a pleasant angel with dark gray wings, however, she could overlook that. All angels in Records had that color wings.

They couldn't be bad if Sir Stephan relied on them so much.

She asked him about contracts, and what purpose they served. All Robert told her was they had a specific set of limits and non-negotiable terms that once the soul signed, they had to abide by. The soul must meet the terms and conditions of the contract, or repeat the same life over until they did.

Rida rejoiced. There was the answer! It was the answer to saving her community, more, it was the answer to finally prove herself.

She sat down with Robert then and there and went over a contract for him to create for her. They went over every step for her new charge. These steps would ensure that the community would avoid its future destruction. More, her charge would live a life just like Rida had, and rise to be the exact same as Rida.

Robert did all of this work for her, even got another angel in Records to just sign his approval for it without reading it. He gave her the contract and she went to face her young charge and set about correcting the future.

Rida saw a chance to pay back the community that raised her to rise into Heaven, so she grabbed it with both hands.

But that was only half of the story. She'd been in this place for years now, but nothing had gone the way she thought it would. So she wanted to prove to everyone, especially Michael, that she was worthy. Worthy of the community's approval for her to be a nun despite their protests and wanting her to be a breeder. Worthy of her status as a Guardian Angel that Sir Stephan promoted her to.

She knew by saving the sect, she would get Michael's attention. This was, after all, a soul that he dealt with personally, and would come to her when he was ready for it again. She wanted him to see just how wonderful of an angel she was. Hopefully, after seeing her success in saving the world from its unholy course, she'd finally be allowed past the citadel doors.

That's what she truly wanted. The reason why she worked as hard as she did, why she wanted to prove herself worthy

She longed to meet the God she had devoted herself to her entire life. She wanted to finally be told what a good and pure woman she was in her years of service. Technically, she was God's wife, as were her fellow nuns. They had sworn themselves to God, and were married to him by the Arch Bishop himself! There was no higher authority in the community, and the Arch Bishop's word was his sacred. Binding even in the Heavens!

She longed to meet her husband God, to wrapped in his loving embrace physically after having been wrapped in it spiritually for years. She'd seen many mortal couples embrace each other in the way she envisioned her husband God would embrace her. While she had longed for the experience in life, she withheld herself from the sins of the mortal flesh. She knew once she reached God's domain, she would be with her husband God, and he would treat her like a husband should.

But, when she got here, her husband God wasn't there waiting for her. Sure, his presence could be felt, but she'd never been given the opportunity to see him. She was barred from seeing him. She was told lowly angels such as herself couldn't handle God's true visage. There was still more work, and yet more proving herself worthy.

She was heartbroken. All of that work while alive wasn't enough? She had to prove herself worthy even in death!? Would she ever meet her husband God?

Sir Stephan had consoled her. Holding her in his arms, offering words of comfort. His embrace was nice, but it wasn't the embrace she longed for. His hold was more like that of an understanding older brother. Like the monks who offered solace after family members passed away in the community.

Once she was calmed down again, Sir Stephan explained to her the reason behind why she was being denied. It was for her, for all of his wives, protection. With Satan walking around the Heavens with free reign with his number of wives, it wasn't like God could make an appearance, or call forth his wives to be with him. To do so would paint a target on their backs. While Satan would take any slag to his bed in marriage, God took only the purest, and the best for his wives. Making them prime targets for the Devil's whores and Satan's execution games.

Sitting on her cot as she remembered all of this, she was drawn to Mal's words about the truth only being spoke, and lies were easily noticed because they lacked the ringing power of the truth. This had been mentioned many times before, but Rida could never understand it. Sir Stephan's words never had that "ringing" they spoke of, and yet, he'd never lied to her. The other angels were all tainted by Satan, that "ring of truth" was nothing but his spell to charm them and lure them into a false sense of security. She would not be swayed by it.

Looking back at the past, even knowing the dangers Sir Stephan spoke of, Rida wanted to be with her husband God. She longed to be with him as any loyal wife would. She was the first wife from her convent who made an appearance. Surely his other wives from the other convents must have other work they could be doing, or maybe she was the first wife here at all.

Making her the best of the best just as Sir Stephan said! But would she be his only wife? Perhaps it was selfish, but she sincerely wished that to be true. Once she was in his arms, the Devil could have her former charge, for a wife or victim, it didn't matter to her.

So, armed with a plan, a contract, and a goal, she met her charge and set things in motion. She didn't bother with consulting Sir Stephan, despite his initial orders, she just knew he would be so proud of her and approve of every move she made. He would support her efforts and applaud them for the hard work that they were.

She had thought this plan was foolproof. One life and Mal would become just like Rida, and the community would be saved. Once Sir Stephan promoted Mal, Rida would be ushered into the welcoming embrace of her husband God going back into seclusion with him, and Mal would take Rida's place at Sir Stephan's side.

Mal would with Sir Stephan and his comrades as they worked to right the wrongs of the afterlife. So they could restore it to its former glory. Where the Devils were in hell, and only God's angels remained in Heaven. No more of this Purgatory. No more of this Underworld place she kept hearing about. No more rebirth. Only those who were worthy would be permitted here. Just as it was before, and should have remained.

There was no doubt in Rida's mind, even now, that once this system was back in place, the worlds would be much better off.

However, much to her shock, her charge defied. Every time she was supposed to submit, the girl's soul fought back. Soon, everything was falling apart. After the third time of sending the girl back, Rida got so frustrated. The contract was made by the Records department, there wasn't supposed to be a way for a mortal to defy it!

She knew the choices of mortals could affect the contract, and disrupt the plans, but all of the mortals surrounding Mal were working within the contract's parameters. Rida had written it around the communities' beliefs and way of life. Watching her charge's life, she could see the girl's very soul rebelling in a way that baffled and worried Rida.

She remembered her teachings about the Devil, about how he had defied God's law just as Mal was doing. It didn't take long for Rida to realize that her charge was being called down the path of the Devil, and willingly answering. It upset her so much that when Gabriel sent trainees to watch how the process was done, she refused.

Adamantly.

She ranted the mortal she was in charge of wasn't doing as her contract demanded. Time and time again, she went against the contract, disrupted the world, and failed miserably. She refused to permit these impressionable younglings to such depravity and a harlot's influence!

Even now, she stood by that she was right. After all, just look at what happened with Gabriel's priority charged. Not even a day and they were naked in bed together!

It wasn't until she was in the infirmary that she learned a vital piece of information. Contracts for mortal souls were only in dire circumstances. They were meant as guidelines to save a world from dying. Her contract wasn't an official contract, and Mal could sign the contract all she wanted, giving Rida the power to interfere with her course. However, it wasn't binding. The Cherubs had laughed at her. Saying it was no wonder that her charge had rebelled.

But it was a lie! It had to be all lies! It went against everything that Sir Stephan told her. And he never lied to her, never! So what was happening? Why were those taunts and the Arch Angels words echoing through her mind?

That's when she realized it. She'd gotten so upset with her charge that her constant faith had slipped. It wasn't much, but it was enough for Satan's spell to work its way into her heart and mind. She'd been tainted by the Devil!

She broke down crying. Where was Sir Stephan? Where was her husband God!? Why weren't they protecting her!? She needed their help! She couldn't fight the Devil all by herself!

 **}TLCW{**

To say that Stephan was furious, that would be putting it mildly. One minute he was preparing his comrades for the inevitable war that would befall this place, and the next, he had no power. His position had been suspended, he and his comrades were rounded up like pathetic cattle, and he was locked away in this location.

Of course, it didn't take very long to figure out why he was put here. As the investigation went on, his comrades still outside knew they would be next, and they gathered what information they could to bring to him.

"It's Rida's fault." One of his generals told him.

This angel was a former Roman general soul. From a world where the Romans still ruled the land, and he'd been a handpicked by Stephan. He was someone who could train and get Stephan's comrades ready for what was to come. Julius was his name.

By this point, he'd already been in the Barracks for three days with his comrades. More arriving by the hour, and he was desperate for information. This was the first piece of relevant information brought to him since his unjustly arrest.

"We are a crucial point in our preparations. I can't have all of this attention on me." Stephan ranted as he paced his room. "Damn it. I have a war to plan. The heavens to save."

Despite his obvious state of ill temper, his voice was cold and calculating as he spoke.

The four other angels that came with Julius watching him pace apathetically. Trained to be that way, so no one would find out what they were up to. Stephan never bothered with their names. He only bothered with his generals or angels that were different from the rest.

"Rida's job was simple." Stephan said to no one in particular. "Do the job in the paperwork, keep her nose down, and not draw attention to herself. How could it have gone so badly?"

"Sir." One of the four stepped away from the rank.

Stephan glared at him for the insubordination. "What?"

He held out a folder to Stephan. "I believe you'll understand once you read the file, sir. It explains it better than we can."

Stephan glared as he took the file from the angel, who immediately stepped back into rank. Not one expression of any emotion on his face. Well, at least the fool was well trained in that regard, Stephan took no consolation though.

He didn't bother to read the file the first time. He had been too busy to deal with it. He had a new batch of recruitments that needed his attention. He knew it was another of Gabriel's test. What was the trust of one Arch Angel who consorted with the enemy when there was a bigger picture to see? A war to plan for? He didn't waste his time on such a juvenile thing.

However, it seemed this juvenile thing he wanted nothing to do with was the cause of their current situation.

Seeing as this was the only way he would ever get answers, he read the file now. As he read this Mal girl's file, he finally got the answers he wanted, and he didn't like them. He sat down when he finished, realization dawning on him just what he allowed to happen through his inaction.

It had been a test engineered by Gabriel, just as Stephan had suspected. However, it would seem, this time, Gabriel got clever, and Stephan reacted just the way Gabriel had anticipated he would. Meaning, Stephan failed.

He long since suspected that Gabriel was onto his plots, and these tests were his way of looking for proof of what Stephan was actually up to. Each test was a means to get evidence brought before the other Arch Angels to discredit him.

Well, now that Stephan failed, it was clear Gabriel had some information, but what of and how much. Rida was certifiably insane, and he could argue that point well enough to Michael. Her cemented beliefs, as well as her previous and current actions, were proof enough. Stephan was sure that he could turn this around on Gabriel. So long as Gabriel wasn't aware of his true goal, and had proof of it.

While Stephan was aware of all of this and already making plans, his comrades were not. He didn't want to trouble their minds before they were ready enough. Overburdening them would have them reacting to something unimportant and tip their hand too soon. He couldn't let that happen. So he put on his best face and raised his head to face the music.

"I should have read the file and given it the attention it was due the first time." Shaking his head as he continued. "Of course, Rida would want to save her precious cult."

He already knew they blamed her, now they had more fuel for the fire.

"I beg your pardon, sir," Julius said cautiously. "but I warned you about promoting her, and I strong cautioned about giving her the task."

"That you did." Stephan agreed. "That you did. Yet I ignored you."

"If I may sir," Julius stepped forward, "forgive me as this is brazen, but why? You've never ignored my council before. Why did you that time?"

"I don't know. I had thought she was as devoted to our cause like all of you. I never imagined she would disobey my orders and follow her own agenda." He looked at Julius, as he spoke, "Even if I had known what this was about, I would have believed she would have put the Heaven's fate over the fall of an insignificant moral cult."

"Clearly we underestimated her devotion to it." Julius said squaring his shoulders. "As well as overestimating her devotion to our cause."

"No." Stephan said as he stood, and began pacing once more. "I am at fault for this. I should have seen the signs, and yet I did not. I will take the blame for all of this."

The look of admiration in everyone's eyes gave Stephan hope.

"What now?" One of the other angels asked.

It was a valid question, and for that reason, he didn't punish the recruit.

"Now," Stephan said as his arms folded behind his back and he faced his comrades. "Now, we do damage control. Rida is surely to make her way to me to find absolution and help with whatever mess she's found herself in. She's rather helpless without my presence in her corner. Though, clearly, she's capable of acting on her own, considering what she did to save that cult. She'll also have it out for this Mal. We may be able to use this to our advantage."

He picked up the folder and handed it to Julius. "Hide this, and when she comes to me, let her through, not a word is to be spoken to her, she is not to be stopped. Remember, we want her to come to me." Julius handed the folder to the angel who brought it, and Stephan went back to pacing. "In the meantime, keep gathering what information we can. The more we have, the more I can use it against Rida. Talk to everyone, someone will have the missing pieces that we need."

The other angels nodded and left the room to follow his orders. Julius looked at Stephan and could see the cogs and wheels in his brain turning and working overtime.

"What's the plan, sir?"

Stephan took a breath and nodded, "I think I may have something, but I need more time to figure this out."

"I might have something then that could be of use."

Stephan leaned against a chair waiting for Julius to divulge the information.

"Emily from the Cherubs infirmary?"

"What of her?" Stephan glared remembering the traitor.

Julius shrugged; he wasn't about to apologize for an old friend. "She was saying that Rida came in with an infection in her wings. Orders from the top say to keep Rida absconded there for as long as they can."

Stephan sighed, as he relaxed his posture and sat in the chair. "If we are not released before she is, she'll be sent here. She'll come to me shortly thereafter." He looked amused as he said the next bit. "I suppose this will give me more than enough time to work out a way to make her the only villain here, and paint us as the innocent bystanders."

Julius doubted it, but he let Stephan plot.

 **}TLCW{**

Rida upon realizing she'd been infected by the Devil, rushed out of her room, and through the halls of the barracks. There were many angels, her comrades in the cause, but they said nothing to her. More importantly, they didn't stop her.

Perhaps if she hadn't been so distraught, she would have realized they were deliberately clearing a path for her.

She found Sir Stephan's room rather quickly and was soon face to face with Sir Stephan.

He was sitting on his bed with the most forlorn look she'd ever seen. Once he looked up and saw her, his expression turned to compassion, and he gave her a small smile.

"Hello, my child." His voice was as sweet and honey, as smooth as silk. Often in her dreams after coming here, she dreamt that her husband God's voice was the exact same as his.

Sir Stephan's compassion and kind words broke the dam she had been holding back. More tears fell and she rushed forward into his waiting arms. It was all her fault he'd been trapped in here for several days like this.

How anyone could treat someone as great as Sir Stephan like this broke her heart! And yet, he harbored her no ill will. Here she was, kneeling in front of him, her arms wrapped around him, and he still smiled and showed he cared about her. This was all the truth she needed.

Sir Stephan was the ultimate authority until it was safe for God to reemerge from his seclusion. Everyone else was under Satan's control.

"Oh, Sir Stephan!" She cried, tears falling down her cheeks as he ran his fingers through her hair. Usually, it was covered, but since leaving the infirmary, she couldn't find her usual clothes. It felt nice, this gesture of comfort. "That charge you gave me was going to destroy my homeworld! My community! I tried to stop her! I did everything I could think of! But she was infected by the Devil! Just like everyone else is too! I couldn't understand how the Arch Angels could defend an evil that's as bad as Satan himself! That's when I realized everything you've been saying is true! You were right all along!"

She pulled back to look up into his eyes and gestured at her wings. "Look what she did to me! My wings have turned! I've been _**tainted**_ , Sir Stephan! Just as you warned us would happen! I battled her but I lost! Now the Arch Angels are protecting her! I failed you! I failed you all! I'm so sorry!" She broke down sobbing more, her face dropping in her shame. "Please! Please, you have to help me! I'll do anything you say, just please heal this condition!"

"There, there, my child." He crooned as he ran his fingers through her hair again. "There, there, it will be alright."

"How!?" She sobbed. "How can it be alright!?"

He smiled reassuringly at her.

"No one holds you responsible for this. Anyone of us could have stood where you were, and we would have ended up exactly where you are now. You made it out alive, you still have your wings, that's what matters." He softly said in the most compassionate tone she'd ever heard. He pulled her back into his embrace and held her tightly as his words gave her comfort and hope.

"Unfortunately, healing isn't one of my abilities I'm afraid." He sighed; genuine regret etched on his face when Rida pulled back to look at him. "You know I would in a second if it were within my power, my child. You'll just have to trust the Cherubs know what they are talking about. They've always been on our side and have been trusted in the past. You'll have to do as they told you. I'm sure you'll get your color back soon."

"They said to stay away from my former charge! To take the courses that you said I didn't need!" She wailed.

"Oh my." He said sounding disheartened. "How could they suggest such a thing? Especially since I said you didn't need it? That would only corrupt and ruin you further. Have they no sense? Surely my word is good enough for the likes of them."

Rida looked up at him with hope spreading through her. She just knew that he was the answer to all of their problems and corrupt way of thinking.

"That's exactly what I said to them, but they wouldn't listen!"

"Oh dear." He looked away, worry dominating his features. "It would appear Satan's influence has infiltrated the Cherubs. If this is true, and their words to you are proof enough to me, they can no longer be trusts. We'll have to be very careful from this point on. We're very lucky you managed an escape with just a bit of color. Who knows what kind of discoloration they would have tarnished you with had you stayed in their care."

He pulled her back into his arms again. She could feel the love, the care there. This was what she needed back in the infirmary when everything fell apart. As Sir Stephan said, yet more proof that outsiders could not be trusted.

Stephan pulled back after a long while and cupped her cheek, "My child, my poor sweet child."

"Oh, Sir Stephan!" She gasped leaning into his hold.

If she had an older brother, she imagined he would have been just like Sir Stephan. The only person could possibly be better than him was her husband God.

"You said the Arch Angels have your previous charge?" He asked quizzically. "Is that still the case?"

Tears fell down her cheeks but she kept her eyes on his. There was such love in those eyes. "I tried to keep her, Sir Stephan, I tried to explain what evil she was, I truly did, but Gabriel and those black wings stole her from me!"

"That's because they are acting on orders of Satan." Stephan said softly.

She nodded in agreement with him. After everything she'd been through, there was no longer any doubt of Satan's hold on the Heavens.

"Listen very carefully my child," he said taking her face into both hands so she was looking only at him. "You must listen to my every word and not speak of this again; do you understand my child?"

"Yes, Sir Stephan." She whispered. She remembered the way lovers used to whisper to each other, and it sounded similar, but that's not the tone she had. No, she was speaking to Sir Stephan as if he were her brother.

Stephan, smiled brightly, then that smile fell, and his face turned serious. "I'm afraid it is as you suspected my child. Satan has marked your former charge for his ultimate bride, his future Queen."

She stared at him, lost for words. She had said and suspected as such, but hear it confirmed is another thing entirely.

"Gabriel and Satan's followers have conspired against you. They wish to break you and induct you in as a new Devil so they could get information on how to defeat me. Thank Heavens you were strong enough to resist them. However, it only proves that you are our last hope." Stephan whispered resting his head against her own. "I wish I could help you, my child, I wish I could take this burden from you, but alas, I cannot."

He raised his head once more and his determination, his belief, radiated out of his eyes and pierced her core, "Only you can stop her. You two are of the same world, the same community. Only you can stop her from becoming the Devil's Queen and saving us from the damnation that awaits. You must get her back and banish her to the mortal plain till her soul ceases to exist, or all of the Heavens is doomed. If she ever returns to the Heavens, she will marry Satan. Once she has, then it will be the end. Satan's control over the Heavens will become absolute."

Rida's tears dried, and her shoulders squared. Despite the heavy burden placed upon her, she didn't cower. She believed Sir Stephan's every word.

"What can I do?" She asked carefully. "The black winged heathens and Gabriel all proved I am no match for their power."

"Ah, my child." Stephan grinned before pressing a chaste kiss against her lips. "You already hold the answers within yourself. I have every faith you will complete this task put before. It is, after all, your destiny."

"Can I even leave this place?" She hesitated.

"I believe so." He nodded. "You don't have the mark like the rest of us. Without it, you are free to leave this place, we, however, cannot. You will be on your own for this."

Rida rose and smiled brightly. "I will complete this task you've asked of me; I will not fail you, Sir Stephan."

Stephan smiled at her. "I believe in you."

Armed with a task, a mighty one to be sure, but she would not cower, Rida left the room. Her comrades all glanced at her as she left. She knew they were wishing her well. All of the Heavens were depending on her. It was up to her to defeat the wicked witch before she was the Devil's bride, and save them all. Rida would not fail them again.

As he said, she was able to leave. With a smile, she knew just where to go, and what to do. Just as Sir Stephan said.

 **}TLCW{**

Julius's eyes were on Stephan as he watched as Rida leave. He looked greatly amused at himself and the situation.

"Perhaps I laid it on a little too thick."

Julius moved from the corner of the room, Rida never realized he was there. "I think you laid it on just enough."

Though it was curious. He didn't sense any of the Divine Truth as Stephan spoke. Not one hint of it. Julius could tell this, and he knew many of the others could as well. All of it was a blatant lie, yet Rida hung onto his every word. He wondered if Rida had some kind filter when it came to the afterlife. If it didn't match the way she thought, then it was a lie. No matter the power behind it.

It was rather disturbing.

"Now with her out of the way, we can focus on more important things."

"What if she succeeds?" Julius felt compelled to ask.

"I have no expectation that she will," Stephan said as he chuckled a bit. "In fact, it was my intention when I gave her that task to fail."

A mild shock ran through Julius, and he was sure that Stephan saw it before he squashed that emotion again.

"I gave her an impossible task." Stephan grinned, seeming to answer Julius's unasked question. "She's up against two Arch Angels, Satan, and whoever else is in on this plot. What I do expect, however, is for her to cause a big enough scene, a big enough mess, that all of the attention will be on her.

"When it's all said and done, I'll be able to hold my head high and say my orders were to follow Michael's instructions. Everything thereafter was her own twisted line of thinking and actions. I'm only responsible for putting the charge in her care. Which, I can honestly say she begged me to let her prove herself, and I was unable to deny her." Stephan grinned turned slightly vicious. "And all of it will ring with that Divine Truth everyone is so worried about."

Stephan barked with laughter. "They will be so busy cleaning up after her they will forget all about us. By the time they remember, we'll have our place secured and our plans moving forward."

Julius wasn't stupid enough to say anything. He was a General first and foremost, all of this universe, Heavens, and mighty beings were unimportant to him. However, it was clear this situation was serious, and his instincts were screaming at him.

This could only mean one thing; there was a battle coming.

Sooner rather than later.

 **}TLCW{**

After dealing with Rida, Stephan asked to be alone. His subordinates obeyed like the faithful followers they were. After everything that happened, he needed to center himself before another obstacle was brought their way. It had been a long tiring couple of weeks before Rida was finally released.

Actually, it had been a long tiring few hundred years, and Stephan hadn't let himself rest for too long. He didn't feel secure enough. Even with his generals watching over him.

Stephan had been promoted to angel a handful of centuries ago. But his mind and heart were in turmoil. He too had grown with a completely different way of thinking and beliefs of the afterlife. It had been ingrained into him during his many lives. He lost count after thirty but knew it was less than two hundred, by the time he was promoted to an angel.

He went through the courses as required, where he learned "The True History" as the teachers said. He was able to reconcile that God was actually Goddess. He was even able to come to terms that Michael was her lover. And coming from a person who believed that God was a man, and who went to war over this belief, the fact that he came to terms with that knowledge, that in of itself was a miracle.

The thing he wasn't able to come to terms with, however, was the truth about Lucifer, or more recently hailed as Satan. Satan walked around the Heavens as if he owned them. He'd spoken with God apparently, on a regular basis.

Stephan could accept the rest, but Satan being the good guy, no. That just wasn't possible. In fact, it was heresy!

Still, Stephan beat down all of his thoughts and animosity on the matter. For years he lived and worked. Gabriel and Michael tried to take him under their wings and tutor him, and educate him. He played along for a time until they tried to get him to converse with Satan, apparently so he would realize that Satan wasn't the villain the mortal realms painted him to be. Stephan stopped after that, and Satan had urged the other Arch Angels to leave him be.

Stephan began to fear why that was? In all of his former teachings, Satan wanted control of the Heavens. It would appear, he'd more or less managed it, was gaining more ground each year. With only Stephan questioning why and worrying about the implications.

That's when Stephan realized, Satan considered him a threat. Stephan rarely slept after that. He kept his thoughts and feelings to himself more so now than before. If Satan considered him a threat, he wasn't going to give the Devil reason to come after him.

He eventually found himself promoted to Head Angel, by his once superior Brock. Brock, like most, had no idea about Stephan's true thoughts and feelings. He had no idea about the festering animosity in Stephan. That it was slowly poisoning him over time. Had Brock known, Stephan suspected he never would have promoted Stephan to take Brock's place.

Brock, went into Heaven to sleep.

Finally, Stephan was in charge, he had power. Only to find, it wasn't that much, and there were others who were far superior. The fact that Satan was one of them, burned his throat every day.

Over the years, the animosity grew. He saw "Evil" where the rest saw "Emotion". With every year that passed, and the more angel recruits came in, Stephan's previous observations were proving true. Through the many ranks of angels, three/fourths of every new batch went to the black wings, and into Satan's domain. Of the fourth that was left, they split up into the lesser ranks of angels. Such as the Artisans, and the Cherubs. The white wings saw a new recruit every other generation.

It got to the point where Stephan became resolved that something had to give. The black wings were dominating the angels in numbers, with their natural enemy, the white wings, being the lowest in number. If Satan went to war with the rest of the Heavens, they would succeed unopposed. The white wings were no longer the warriors that Stephan believed they once were and believed were the only ones who could battle and defeat the black wings.

He found himself promoting souls to the rank of angels before their time. He often had Records fast track it through without question. If they had to lie about a few details, then that wasn't his problem, it was the Records Department's problem.

He promoted angels, but to his dismay, many fell into the lesser rank of angels almost immediately, or straight into the Devil's arms. Oh, they had accepted the truth about this place and the way things were without question.

Stephan continued with his promoting, going younger, and with fewer lives lived. Each time, he found their wings were a brighter white than his own, and they stayed white. They stayed with him and believed his worry had merit. Resolved to help him in any way that they could. When one suggested they start training to be the warriors that they once were, Stephan wholeheartedly agreed and began promoting his generals for just that purpose.

It came to pass that he found a woman who was the most beautiful he'd ever seen. Her wings were so bright, glowing with purity and power unlike anything he'd seen. He had thought she would be by his side through it all. Later he was forced to watch as she went into Satan's arms willingly. Her once pure, glowing white wings faded into a deep blood red when the light hit them just right.

He buried his heart that day. He had to; else it would have broken as he saw her again over the years. On Satan's arm, with Satan's other concubines. He eventually stopped looking at her when he saw she was heavy with child. Satan's spawn.

Stephan continued recruiting and training. Even going so far as to train with them. His time as warrior bled through into his angel prowess, and he had no doubt he could take down the Devil and his contingency when the time came.

Time moved forward to when he found Rida. Her wings were even brighter than the woman's who broke his heart. It was the brightest he'd ever seen. He had firmly believed she would always be a pure white winged angel, and nothing could sway her. Still, he kept her close, fed her delusions to suit his purpose. He wanted to protect her, worried that the minute she was away from him she would be turned.

He was right in his fear. Like before, his precious purity angel was tarnished.

His scheme had been going on for a while, unchecked, and unhindered. However, even with his new followers, his animosity still grew, and it showed from time to time. As did his subordinates. That was when Gabriel and Michael stepped in again. They began to berate him, and his subordinates. While Michael had other duties, it fell on Gabriel to keep testing Stephan. To test his loyalty to the Heavens, and the purpose they served.

He was loyal to it all. Except for Satan and his black wings. He knew that the others wouldn't understand, and if they found out, they would put a stop to it. All of the work Stephan had put in to save them all from the Devil would be ruined because they trusted that heathen bastard.

So he played along with Gabriel's schemes, though they tried Stephan's patience.

He had gotten fed up passed the charge onto Rida. Yes, while he'd been busy with the training, it was mostly because Stephan had grown tired of Gabriel's endless tests. He wanted to be left alone just once.

Even so, he gave very specific instructions to Rida. After that, he went as far as to enlist his longtime friend in Records, Robert. Robert's instructions were to help Rida in every way possible if she came to him. He made sure to tell Robert to not draw attention to themselves.

Despite that, things spiraled out of control fast. If he had just read the file, or if he had checked up on Rida's progress, none of this would have happened. But it did, and as he feared would happen, he was now under investigation at the insistence of Gabriel. It wouldn't be so worrying if he didn't know that Satan had Gabriel's year.

It would seem that Satan had finally made his move against Stephan. Thankfully, Stephan had not been idle. He'd been preparing for this moment for years.

He had long since been convinced that it was coming to war. With the black wings and Satan being the enemy. Michael and Gabriel needed to be shown just how awful the black wings and Satan were. Guardians or not.

Stephan knew that Satan wouldn't take control until he was sure no one would stand against him. To prevent that day from coming, and catching Satan unawares, Stephan wanted to start the war before Satan had a better standing in the Heavens. He had many plans to start the war. One of his favorites was to commit an unspeakable act, and frame Satan for it.

Once a horrible act was committed in Purgatory, say, an attack on Heaven where many souls died brutally and bloody, or something predictably Satan like that; Gabriel and Michael would finally see what Stephan saw. They would finally go to war like they should have done eons ago. His angels would help with this effort, of course, it was what they had been training for.

Satan, his fellow black wings, and his precious children would be slaughtered like the heathen devils they were.

He firmly believed that they would fall like lambs. He knew that Satan would be taken out by Michael. Stephan liked to believe he could kill Satan, but being realistic for a moment, he knew that wouldn't be the case. All Stephan hoped when it came to the black wings slaughter, is that he could take out the woman who broke his heart. Her children would be easy, but killing her would take more. If those were the only devils he took out during the war, he could live with that.

For he would have succeeded in righting a great wrong. The Heavens would be free of Satan and the black wings once more, and Stephan's heart would be avenged.

However, recent events pushed things forward. He didn't need to enact any secret and sickening plot anymore. Satan had moved first, now, Stephan would land the blow that would end all of this.

As he planned and envisioned this bright future that was sure to come, he forgot all about Rida. All he saw was his own mission and was calculating the time till his expected victory.

He knew as his eye twitched that he should probably get some sleep. It wouldn't do for a leader such as himself to be so sleep deprived, and it had been a few decades since he last slept. But with the pending war looming on the horizon, he needed to train.

 **}TLCW{**

Robert was having another dull day. Since Stephan and his contingency were essentially imprisoned, he'd had very little to actually do. He worried about Rida when he heard she was in the infirmary, but an acquaintance told him she would be fine and make a full recovery. So it was back to the dull meaningless work that awaited him day after day in this place.

With that being his normal, it was only natural that he would be pleasantly surprised when Rida appeared in the doorway.

He immediately stood, closed the door to his cubical, and pulled her into his arms. "I was so worried!"

"I'm alright now." She assured Robert.

He pulled back a bit, his arms still firmly around her, holding her close, as he smiled. "So, what can the scoundrel in Records do for you today?"

"I need your help." She said dropping her voice.

"Anything." He said dropping his own to match her.

She took a deep breath and met his eyes. "My former charge that you helped me with, Mal, she's going to be the Devil's Queen. If I don't stop this, all of the Heavens will be lost, and we'll all be doomed to damnation."

Robert, quirked an eyebrow amused. "How can I help?"

Rida smiled. "I need another contract. One that will put Mal under my complete control. We must banish her to the mortal plane until her soul diminishes and vanishes away completely."

"What of the priority case with Gabriel?" Robert asked. "They're saying she's now tied to him."

Rida shook her head. "A misconception to deceive us." She continued on with determination. "We must get her away from that innocent soul, and out of the Heavens. Really, he'll thank us one day, it's for his own protection after all. She's not really tied to him, much less love him. He's merely a means to sate her lusts until the Devil calls her home."

Robert was well aware that Rida didn't know that Mal and Ares had already signed a contract created by Gabriel and Michael, while it was supported and rendered unbreakable by Raphael. He could also tell that everything she said was bat shit crazy. He knew who she got it from, and trying to convince her otherwise would be more trouble than it was worth. It would ultimately end with her stomping out of here and never speaking with him again.

"So you want a contract that will give you complete control over Mal?" He asked making sure he was getting this right.

Rida smiled brightly and eagerly nodded.

"And you want it written in a way that Ares can never have any contact with her ever again, for his own protection?"

She reacted the same as she did to the previous question.

"And you want a contingency in there that says Mal can never return to Purgatory under any circumstances?"

Once more, he was met with the same reaction.

Well, now that he was clear on what she wanted from him.

"Let me get right on that." Robert grinned at her.

The brightness of her smile made him giddy and weak in the knees. He knew what would happen if they succeeded, but he could never be considered to be the brightest man. Even in life, his choices weren't very impressive. Right now, all he could think about was how happy this made Rida, and how beautiful she was.

He had lived many lifetimes before becoming an angel. His years as an angel were as dull as his mortal lives. Till he saw her. Even with her wings now gray, and as she ranted and raved. About Gabriel being a spy for Satan. Her destiny that Sir Stephan set her on. Her whore of a former charge. It all went in one ear and out the other.

He hoped that this favor for her would finally see him getting laid by a beautiful woman. Maybe if she got laid her crazy religious rants would cease. Really, what man could compete with the image of God? Especially when the man she was picturing sounded like the Greek God Zeus with the Devil's voice. He could think of a few more examples that were more reasonable and relatively handsome. So long as it wasn't an old man Rida lusted after.

He wasn't sure if he loved Rida, but he definitely wanted her. So as he worked, he let her do whatever she wanted, all the while admiring her pretty gray wings. Noticing they were a brighter gray than his own.

Maybe they were meant to be together after all?

 **}TLCW{**

 **A** _ **N:** So phew! That was chapter 9. I feel I should mention that initially, the first part of the chapter was supposed to be a part of chapter 8, but I cut it out. I was going to put it into chapter 10, but I ended up adding into 9 because there are things that happen in that part that needed to happen before Rida's part was introduced. Because if I didn't put that part first, a few key points the second half wouldn't have made sense. And that bugged me. _

_Chapter 9 was supposed to be all about Rida, Stephan, and the other angel's interactions with them. I would have split these parts into two chapters, but I thought, this is a little shorter than chapter 8, and I posted that in full, why not this too._

 _ **AN PS:** I've been working on this for almost a year now. _

_I'm **FINALLY** getting out of the Afterlife Arc! **FINALLY**!_

 _You guys have no idea how excited this makes me._

 _Anyway, hoped you enjoyed it, and chapter 10 is the end of the Afterlife Arc._

 _ **AN PSS:** I never meant for these chapters to be so darn LONG! I can't promise that this will be the last one either. I just hope I don't end up with a chapter that's 90 pages long. I'm good with this 75 cut off limit for pages. _


	10. Chapter 10: Prepping for Life

_**AN:** Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. I've had it written along with the next two for a few weeks. But from the end of May until today, my brain was basically preoccupied. It felt like my muse was standing over my shoulder, alternating between a spiked whip and a shotgun. Anytime fatigue hit or I felt like taking a break, Muse would crack the whip or ready the shotgun. It was intense._

 _Imagine if you will, that Silent Hill met American McGee's Alice Madness Returns, and you pretty much of an idea of what kind of state my head was in during those weeks. I was so focused on getting the words, the ideas out, bathroom breaks and food were completely forgotten. It would pretty late by the time I stopped. It had my daughter and husband more than a little worried. I'm not sure if any of what was is even a good idea. I know some of it is, but obviously, not all of it._

 _I have six pages in a notebook with notes for nothing but this story, over two hundred posted notes with quick notes for other story ideas! Some of it fanfiction, some of its original ideas. But, I got all of it out my head. Which finally allowed my brain to come back and focus on chapters for TLCW._

 _Before all of that, Summer break started, and my little girl has been home full time, so we spent a lot of time together in the beginning as well. We were also up really really late! Or very early depending on how you look at it. We didn't end up crawling into bed until 2 am one morning, and I honestly blame the whole thing on her, and my muse. I was writing notes while we were also binging tv. Binging anime and movies we meant to during the school year, but never got around to due to homework, or other obstacles._

 _Adding another thing into the mix; the first half of June is a difficult time for me and my family and has been since my sister passed away three years ago. You see, June 15_ _th_ _is her birthday, this year she would have been 24. Her passing wasn't natural either, and I'll leave it at that for now. So my motivation crawls to nothing during that time. Happens every year, but this is the first year I've been actively posting online, with no real intention of stopping. Posting once or twice a month gives me the chance that I need to work through my issues, schedule, and work on a single chapter till it's the best I can get it by myself for now._

 _My hope is to give you chapter 10 now, and within a couple of weeks, give you chapter 11. Chapters 12 and 13 should be coming at the end of July, beginning of August. I will not set a schedule for July because it's a freaking busy month for this family._

 _We have, the 4_ _th_ _(which yes, it's an important day for Americans, as its Independence Day, but for myself, it's different), which celebrates how many years my husband and I have been together in total. We got together on the 4_ _th_ _of July back in high school. This year makes 13 years together._

 _We then have my mother in laws birthday, a cousin's birthday, my sister in laws birthday._

 _My birthday/anniversary (because my husband wanted it all on the same day, that way if he forgets one, he's forgotten both, and he's doubly screwed. I'm perfectly justified in being a bitch then), I will be turning 30, and celebrating 11 years married with my husband._

 _Three days later, (yeah, I became wife, and then three days later became a mom, it was a running joke with my mother in law while I was in labor) our daughter turns 11._

 _There's more throughout the month, but that's pretty much all I remember at the moment, and why that month, despite being among the hottest of the summer, is so freaking busy._

 _Enough of a letter from me! You didn't come here for my chitter chatter!_

 _So without Further Ado, chapter ten._

 **}TLCW{**

Mal and Ares may have spent their nights together, but after their lessons began, their contact while awake was minimal at best. When they finally crawled into bed at the end of the day, they were too tired to do anything but sleep. With Bella curled up with them, they couldn't have done more than kiss anyway.

Their training was split into half. The first half was brutal on both of them for different reasons.

Mal would meet Monty and Mia in the dueling room, and while there, she began learning about wielding a wand. They were given a mock one by Gabriel. He was the angel who helped with her magic training.

Her first day, they started her with the most basic of things, getting comfortable with the wand in your hand, and feeling your magic flow into it.

"Your shoulders are still too tense." Gabriel said as he laid a hand on her shoulders getting her to relax them a bit. "If you're too tense you can overpower a spell and wear yourself out quickly. You'll be subject to missing your targets or destroying it when you mean to simply lift or capture."

Mal took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she did so. Releasing as much tension as she could.

"You're excited." Mia spoke as circled the angel and Mal. "That's to be expected, but forcing yourself and your magic immediately is the wrong way to go about it. Enthusiasm is a good thing to have, but you need respect for magic more."

"Forcing magic is what leads to disasters." Monty added from where he was leaning against a wall. "You want it to work with you. It's a part of your, a friend, forcing it to your whim is not necessary."

"Let it flow through you. Give it direction, and magic will take care of the rest." Mia added softly.

Mal listened carefully to their words, breathing in and out slowly. It was there, she could feel it, her magic, softly flowing through every facet of her being. It was almost as if it was sleeping. He began to pull on the magic slowly. With each inhaled breath she took, she would pull on her magic just a little. With each exhale, she let go for those few seconds, before taking hold of it again. Her magic began growing with each breath taken. It pulsed with life and energy, ready to be used like Mia said, all it needed was a direction.

She raised her dummy wand again. Holding it in her hand, a firm grip, but relaxed muscles.

Gabriel and Mia had both stepped back. She felt them as they moved away.

"Say the spell now." Mia instructed.

"Lumos!"

She opened her eyes to see a bright light emerging from the tip of the wand. Before when she attempted it, there was a spark of light, or a dim light emerging from the wand. Similar to that of a dying flashlight. She grinned brightly at the glow.

She looked at her teachers. "Did I do good? Is that's how it's supposed to be?"

Monty was currently shielding his eyes, "Yes, you did well. That's actually brighter than usual."

"Given what we know about her power levels, that's not surprising." Gabriel chuckled.

Mia was bouncing with excitement. "Oh, this is wonderful! You're going to knock those old tosser's socks off!"

"If I land in a pureblood family, I think Wizarding Britain will be expecting me to be exceptional." Mal sighed as she canceled the light spell. "While I want that anyway, I'm not looking forward to dealing with it."

"I sympathize." Gabriel said sitting down motioning Mal to do the same. "As an Arch Angel, I've been in that position a lot. Take recent events for example. Rida, and her backer Stephan. They are nothing but trouble and endless drama."

Mal nodded. "I dealt with negative people and hypocrites all the time in my other lives, so while I have the experience, I'm still not looking forward to it again."

Gabriel shrugged. "They are everywhere, in every life. There's not stopping that."

"I know."

The first half of her training was spent like that. Monty and Mia teaching her as much as they could, while Gabriel's supervision and helping where required. They became aware very quickly that transfiguration gave Mal some trouble. She excelled with charms. She always had a smile on her face while working with Charms. With Defense, she struggled a bit, but nowhere as near as much as she did with Transfiguration.

Her thinking was Curses were the opposite of Charms. Charms were about protection and creating. Curses were about attacking, there were Defense Charms in there, but again, it was a charm and all about protection.

Transfiguration was about turning something into another thing. You had to understand the object before you turn it, and you had to have knowledge about what you turning the object into. You had to know the texture, and preferably, the chemicals and elements that went into it. Going further, you had to know anatomy about living things before you could transfigure animals into a different one.

In her mind, this was akin to Science, and she was always really bad with this subject. When she voiced her theory as to why she struggled, this gave them something to think about.

When they felt she had mastered all they could think of that would help her pass as a regular witch, it was time to move onto the subjects that didn't require a wand.

"Let's see how she fares with potions and Herbology." Lily grinned from the doorway several days after her wand training began.

 **}TLCW{**

Ares had a different kind of training for the first half. He knew about wielding a wand as he'd done so for nine lifetimes before. Michael had devised the training he was going to receive to help Ares with the coming war effort in his homeworld.

He walked out to the front of Pottermore the first morning and gave Michael and his company a quizzical look. He expected it to be just him and Michael, doing some physical exercises he was to keep up once he got back to the mortal realm. However, with Michael was Satan and another soul.

"Not what I expected, but alright." He said stepping forward and nodding his head at the newcomers. "Good to see you again Satan, and nice to meet you, stranger. I'm Ares. Welcome to Pottermore."

The soul nodded and grinned at him. "I'm Julian."

"These two, along with myself, are going to be teaching you combat." Michael folded his arms behind his back and he looked at Ares critically. "Remus assured me there will be ways to help continue this training back in the mortal realm. Until then, you will learn physical combat as well as weapons training from us. Though, I'll only be working you through your beginning workout. Once that's finished, Satan and Julian will take over."

Ares nodded and grinned. He was already enjoying this. He looked over at Satan and Julian. "I get Satan's qualifications, but may I ask about yours, Julian?"

Julian grinned. "I was a Greek General. Had my own armies and everything. I was even apart of the battle of Troy. I took down several Spartans in my day, and supposedly they were the best warriors Greece had."

Ares looked at him stunned. "That's impressive."

"Wait till you see him fight!" Satan barked with laughter.

"Quite." Michael agreed with a friendly smile, seeming to be happy that Ares was getting along with Julian. "We had wanted another, Julius. He was a Roman General. Really impressive fighting skills, and mostly a good man."

"Why isn't he here?" Ares asked curiously. It wasn't like Michael to not get what he wanted.

"Because he's one of Stephan's followers." Satan grunted. "He's locked in the barracks with the rest of the nutters."

"Any word on what's going to be done about them?" Ares directed the question at Michael.

Michael shook his head. "Whether he realizes it or not, we already know what he's planning. One of his old recruits stayed under his tutelage long enough to learn most of Stephan's beliefs. From there, we realize he's been getting ready for a war."

Ares shook his head. "I'd offer to help, but I think you guys will have it all mopped up before I get back."

"Maybe." Michael sighed.

That was the last pleasant conversation Ares had with them.

Michael took command after a moment of silence and set Ares up with a workout, participating alongside him. From the start, Michael turned it into some kind of competition.

Ares started with stretches to get his body ready. All three instructors argued that this was needed before any kind of work out so he didn't pull or strain his muscles. The next step was knowing his limit. In the mortal world, he would have to start off his training slowly, and gradually work up to where he would be at his physical best.

Here in Purgatory, however, there was no such limit, and they pushed Ares as far as they could.

Following the stretches was a hundred pushups, followed by a hundred pull-ups, using both hands. They then switched to a hundred pushup and pullups alternating between his arms. He'd done fine while using both, doing it all one-handed gave him a bit of a struggle.

"Come on Bane!" Barked Julian. "This is cowards' stuff! Before you're done, I'll have you doing it all with one finger!"

"Joy." Ares grumbled back.

Immediately after that, were the crunches. Full body, alternating between one leg crunches, and more. He had to do a hundred for each pose.

Sit-ups came after that. Again, his goal was over two hundred.

After that, he ran around the whole of the flat earth floating in Purgatory. Three times.

When he crashed on the ground after that, he was breathless. He wasn't sweating, such a thing was impossible in Purgatory, but he sure felt like he should be. There was little doubt in his mind his sweat glands would be a steady stream, creating a flow off his body, leaving a trail on the ground behind him and a puddle beneath him when he finally stopped for a moment.

A moment was all he was allowed. He hadn't even caught his breath, and they were back at it.

While Julian was proficient with weapons wielding, there was no argument that Satan was far better and had more experience. Julian's focus was hand to hand combat. They started with dodging and blocking. Ending Julian's session with attacking.

Satan took over with weapons. He used the fact that they were soul to his benefit. They used actual weapons and did not hold back. If Ares didn't block in time, he got hit. When Satan saw an opportunity, he even skewered Ares with whatever weapon they were using.

Shields didn't even register in their minds. So Ares didn't have any kind of protection. He either dodged or blocked, or he got hurt.

Day in and day out, his training was brutal at the hands of two Arch Angels and a Greek General. There was no doubt Ares got through the warm up faster, even with the limits and weights they added later on. When it came to combat, he learned his lesson quick. After a while, they couldn't land a hit on him, but he still couldn't attack for anything.

By the end of the first half of the training, Ares was almost dead even with his instructors. He could even keep pace with Michael during the warm-ups.

 **}TLCW{**

"UGH! Those bastards!" Ares groaned as he crashed down onto the loveseat Mal was curled up on in the Family Room.

"That bad?" She asked tentatively.

"YES!" He exclaimed. "Just when I showed signs of being able to handle what they were doing to me, they amped it up! From two-armed pushups to one, from one arm to fingers, then just one finger, One Finger! Then they started putting weights on me!"

She couldn't help the small smile coming to her face. He was no doubt complaining, but there was a hint of amusement in his eye.

"As if that wasn't bad enough! Julian took to calling me names! Bane! Ruin!" He groaned as he fell back again, throwing his arms over his face and resting them against his forehead. "Over and over! Satan got involved as well. It got worse when Michael started doing it too."

"You had fun." Mal grinned at him.

He grinned back from under his arms. "The best. They're still a bunch of wankers though."

"If it helps, my time with Gabriel was pleasant. He's a very patient teacher."

"Because he knows I'd shove a scimitar up his arse if he wasn't."

She broke out laughing, almost falling off the loveseat in her mirth.

"Glad to see someone is enjoying this."

Mal and Ares looked towards the doorway to find the Arch Angels and Julian in the doorway. Gabriel was shuddering and had a look of revulsion on his face. Meanwhile, Michael and Satan looked rather amused. Julian was doing his best to not laugh at the situation. But his shaking shoulders told them all that he was failing.

"I'm not apologizing." Ares said with a grin.

"I didn't expect you to." Michael nodded, "Mind if we join you?"

"No." Mal said with a shake of her head. "I think we're just unwinding before exhaustion wins out and we go to bed."

"Training will do that." Michael chuckled as he sat in one of the chairs. He gave it an appraising look as he made himself comfortable. "These are actually really nice. I don't think even the cult's richest proprietors had something as fine as this."

Mal shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I only socialized with the middle and lower class of the cult." She smiled at him. "But I agree, these are like something out of high-end furniture store that would have over a thousand-dollar price tag."

"Then you'd take it home and a cat or dog would shit all over it or tear it all to pieces." Satan said as he sat down and held his arms behind his head in a similar fashion as Ares.

Mal bobbed her head in concession.

"So, to what do we owe the honor of this visit?" Ares asked skeptical of their presence.

"We wanted to see how you both were handling the training, and check on Bellatrix's state." Michael said then looked over where Bellatrix was currently sleeping on the couch. The fact that she was in her teenage body and very few floating crystals that were the pieces of her broken soul astounded the Arch Angels. "I can see she's doing a lot better. In fact, she's almost healed."

Bellatrix rarely left the room wherever Mal was. She followed Mal around like a shadow, clinging to her whenever she could. She would address the others, politely, never meeting their eyes, and when she did, she looked like a heartbroken, guilty child who was afraid of getting in trouble but expected it. Even with Ares, though she did open up to him a little more than the other adults. It was the opposite in her regard for Mal.

Every morning, during her breaks in her training, even taking breaks in her training to do it, and before bed at night, Mal would sit back and place the pieces of Bella's broken soul back into the main body. Whenever she would notice the cracks reappearing, and it wasn't break time, she would make them stop so she could put the pieces back. No one argued against this.

Monty, Mia, Lily, James, Remus, Tonks, and Sirius, all watched with morbid fascination as Mal pieced back together the one woman they all thought was their bitter enemy through and through. To learn otherwise was enough of a shock. Seeing it, brought further home the point that nothing was as it seemed back in the mortal worlds.

Sirius was the first to recover. Forgiving Bella, promising to help her as much as possible. Bella cried, for the first time though, it was in happiness and hope.

"She's a great deal better now." Mal said as she ran a hair through the sleeping Bella's hair. "The more of her soul that's healed, her body grows. I think I might actually be able to have her soul into one piece before the end of all of this."

"That," Satan started to say and paused. Just staring at the sleeping Bella for a long few moments before looking back at Mal. "That's actually really impressive. The Artisans and Cherubs have difficulty with this. It takes them years to accomplish what you have in just a matter of days."

Meanwhile, Gabriel was grinning like a loon. A rather smug look in his eyes as he did so. However, no words were spoken by him.

"Thank you." Mal said with an embarrassed smile. "I don't understand why it's so easy for me. I know Michael and Gabriel seem to think that I'll be a Goddess or something." She sighed with a shrug. "I honestly don't understand how that would happen, but I guess we'll see as the future progresses."

Satan snorted at Mal's remark. He relaxed his pose and grinned at Ares, "I can see why you never found your match anywhere else."

Ares shrugged and grinned.

"So," Satan clapped as he sat forward, folding his hands together as he looked at Ares with a serious expression. "I hear that you will be joining my ranks once you ascend to an angel."

Ares nodded. "That's what I was thinking about."

Satan nodded also, before looking back to Mal. "And you're alright with this? We're not exactly well received by the masses as you've witnessed. He joins us, it won't be easy on either of you."

"Are you saying you don't want me!?" Ares demanded a little upset. "After all of the fighting you did to get my soul, you're have second thoughts now!?"

Satan held up his hand in peace. "That's not what I'm saying, I've just had this nagging thought since coming here, and I'm asking questions before I voice it."

Ares sat back and waited.

All eyes were on Mal, waiting for her answer. She rolled her eyes. "No, I don't have a problem with it. Given the fight you put up for his soul in the past, I had a feeling. Then I got to know about his past, and I got to know him over the course of that mortal life. He acts on his emotions more often than not. If that wasn't the case, he wouldn't have committed suicide or attacked people when his anger boiled into a rage. I knew when that Cherub said we would become angels what he would become."

Satan nodded slowly, as he seemed to process what she said.

"As for the discrimination," She shrugged, "I've faced worse being raised in that cult. I've faced worse while being a stripper. There were protestors outside the apartment building where I lived one day. They'd been protesting at the club because it was a cesspool for sin. They found out that Ethan paid for the apartment building and a lot of the girls and other workers for the club lived in that building. So they showed up there to attack us in our own homes. We couldn't work for two days because they wouldn't let us leave the building. They had it surrounded. The police got involved and everything." She looked Satan in the eyes. "If I can handle that as a mortal, I can handle a few idiots here in Purgatory."

Satan sighed and looked at Michael. "I'll kill Rida. Not as a favor, not under an order. I'll kill her personally for what she put this woman through."

"This is a lot of animosity for a person who only lived one life." Mal said softly. "She's ignorant of the truth sure, but not evil."

Satan looked back at her in shock. Mal felt a blush in her cheeks as she saw he wasn't the only one. Even Ares was looking at her with that expression.

Satan, however, was the one who spoke. "Mal, I run the Underworld and the Hell. I deal with evil day in and day out. What Rida did to you was nothing short of despicable. What made it worse, she enjoyed making you suffer. She did everything she could think of to make you suffer. My angels are well trained, and they caught onto that immediately. All of that abuse, all of the pain you endured, she intentionally put you through that. Her thinking was it would make you hate humanity enough to turn to God and enter the convent where she spent her life immediately after high school.

"I watched that initial life you lived with Michael." Satan continued much to Mal's shock at hearing that. "Someone had to run things while Michael away. We both watched as you finished up the following years without him up to your death. Michael was much too broken to run things until your soul was back in his arms. You were unconscious and resting, we left you in that state because you needed the rest more than we needed to talk to you.

"I was the one that wrote up the file as Michael just held you apologizing all the while. Living a mortal life for a while broke his usual reserve." Michael looked away from the room but didn't deny Satan's words. "I wrote it so you would be safe in the next life, the cult would be shut down, and you would find some semblance of happiness."

"Thank you for the effort." Mal said softly. "Even if I never got to live it, I appreciate the gesture and the effort."

"It's my job." Satan said in a soft tone. "I deal with evil, and I help the victims find better lives." His tone darkened as did his expression as he continued. "You can imagine my surprise, and my rage, when I found out Rida had been given your soul. Gabriel passed it to Stephan, under the impression he would follow the instructions to the letter like he'd always done in the past. If it's one thing we knew, despite his personal beliefs, he would do whatever job you gave him as instructed. Without question.

"I'd seen Rida around before. I knew she fell in line with the same beliefs as Stephan, only I didn't realize how bad she was until later on. That's when I found out she had your soul." Satan sat back with a disgusted look on his face. "I read what she did to you. I know she planned worse. You didn't read that contract she had written up, I did."

"But I did read it." Mal protested. "I read that thing so many times I have it memorized."

Satan shook his head. "There was more to it."

"What do you mean more?"

"It's better we don't know." Ares said laying a hand on her shoulder to calm her.

Satan nodded. "Rida deserves nothing less than a death sentence."

Mal shook her head. "You're wrong."

All eyes were back on her in shock. So she took a breath and explained. "By killing Rida, you're justifying her beliefs about you. About Purgatory, and the way she treated my soul. By killing her, you'll be vindicating Stephan and his supporters' beliefs, and it will be that much harder to deal with them. If it's one thing that I've learned, death isn't the worst thing that could happen to a person. Life is."

Satan just stared at Mal.

Michael looked greatly amused.

Julian had a neutral expression.

Gabriel again looked smug.

"Told you so." He chanted to the other Arch Angels. "She also makes an excellent point."

Satan nodded. "That she does, and it actually might open doors to new punishments in the Underworld."

Mal held up her hands. "I don't need to know, I don't want to do, or I will be compelled to help out with it, and that's not something I'm willing to do just yet." She looked back at Satan, "So what brought all of this on anyway? What's been nagging at you to make you ask those questions before?"

Satan sighed. It was clear, he had hoped that his previous statement would have been forgotten as he changed the subject. "As much I would like to have Ares among our rank, he would make an excellent Enforcer in my realms, I don't think that's where he's headed."

"Why not!?" Gabriel demanded more than a little shocked. "It's been clear to me for a while that's where his soul was headed."

Michael nodded. "There was never any doubt in my mind, and I agree with your assessment brother. What makes you think that he won't join your ranks Satan?"

Satan merely pointed to Mal. "Her."

"I would never stop him." Mal said her eyebrows burrowing together confused.

"I know." Satan lowered his finger. "What I meant by that was, because of you possibly being something more along the lines of a Goddess, I expect the same for Ares in the future."

Ares looked shocked himself now. "What?"

Satan nodded. "I think you will join my ranks when you come back after succeeding, however many times it takes. But it won't be for long. I think, just as Mal will evolve into whatever God has planned for her, so too will you."

Michael groaned and buried his face in his hands. "That actually makes sense."

Gabriel looked between his brothers, "What exactly is happening here? First, these two have power levels that's on par with our Arch Angel level, as souls, now they might be more than that?" He looked directly at Michael. "Has she said anything as to what she's planning."

Michael, still buried in his hands groaned again. "No."

"So we have no way of knowing what's going to happen in the future?" Gabriel pressed.

"No."

"I think that's a good thing." Mal said laying back against Ares. "I don't want to know everything right away. Whatever future Purgatory holds for us can wait."

Ares wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head. "Agreed. I just want to live a life with you. One where I remember everything about us and enjoy the mortal's pleasures together."

"On that note," Julian said speaking up, "we've reached the halfway point with your training. Meaning there will be different schedules starting tomorrow."

As the Arch Angels were talking at their lightning speed, seeming to forget the souls in the room, Julian was left to explain.

"You two will start with Herbology with Lily and James. After that will be potions with Lily and Remus. There will be a break after that. Then in the afternoon, you'll split up. Mal will be with Lily and Mia learning about being the Lady of Pottermore, and the role of the Lord's wife. Ares, you'll be with Monty, James, and Sirius, learning about being the Lord of Pottermore, your role in the Wizengamot, as well how to interact with the other Purebloods without setting off their delicate sensibilities while maintaining your thoughts and beliefs. At the very least you'll be able to hold conversations without issue, at most you'll be able to get away with subtly insulting them so that by the time they realized what you've done, it will be too late for them do anything about it."

"Nice." Ares grinned.

"The following day, in the morning, both you and Mal will be in training with us. Mal will be getting into the routine of a steady workout and learning what her limits with that are. We'll also be exploring her combat abilities and where she's the strongest as far as that's concerned." Julian opened his palms and bobbed his head. "There's a chance that she might not be able to do combat at all, and is only able to play the role of support and heal the victims. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's still good to be able to defend oneself. Remus will be helping us with that as well. So both of you can do it physically, as well as magically. The entire day will be devoted to that."

"And we'll alternate the remaining days doing that until it's time to go." Mal nodded.

Julian smiled. "Pretty much yes. Tomorrow, however, we'll be taking a day off. All of us need a bit of a rest." He looked over at the still debating Arch Angels. "And I suspect they'll be at that all night and most of tomorrow."

 **}TLCW{**

As Julian suspected, the Arch Angels were deep in their debate, as it didn't appear as if they were arguing, just throwing out ideas and trying to figure out who was the closest to the truth they were largely left alone. The next morning when everyone got up, they weren't there at all, and they didn't show up the entire day.

So the souls in Pottermore decided to spend the day resting separately. The couples were curled up together somewhere, Bella being with Mal and Ares. Though, at this point, it was clear that she wasn't going to be waking up again until it was time to leave. Which Mal thought was for the best. Letting her healing soul rest as much as it could.

The only one truly left alone was Sirius, and he wanted it that way. James and Remus both tried to get him to spend time with them, but he refused. Telling his brothers in all but blood to spend time with their respected wife and just let him wallow and spend his day in quiet contemplation. He was thinking about his past, and about the future. He swore that this time around, things were going to be different. No more innocent souls were going to get hurt. He also vowed that this time, he would throw caution to the wind and approach Amelia again. He hadn't before because of her position and in fear that she wouldn't believe him. He realized Dumbledore fed on that fear and compounded upon it. This time, he wouldn't go anywhere near Hogwarts until his name was cleared. And after reuniting with Ares and Mal, his next appearance would be to Amelia.

Monty and Mia wandered around, with no particular destination in mind. They'd been told after this; they were going to Heaven. Where they would sleep, and likely not see their former family ever again. It was a general knowledge that after resting in Heaven, some souls emerged with no memory of who they were before entering the pearly white gates. So it was a clear possibility that if they ever left Heaven's safe slumber, they wouldn't even remember each other.

So they walked around their former home, thinking about all of the lives they lived where they had been Lord and Lady Potter. In most, there was no Voldemort, and Dumbledore was merely a Head Master, nothing more. Others, there was Voldemort, but they survived the first war and raised their grandson. In others, James and Lily stayed in Pottermore, just as Alice and Frank stayed in Longbottom Hall. Voldemort won the war, and the worlds fell into darkness.

They had lived many lives yes, and their souls were very weary of it all. This last one was by far the worst, and there was no way they could go back to help even if they wanted to. All they could do was pass on their knowledge to the next generation and trust them to do their task. Which they did. They trusted Mal and Ares implicitly. They were rather fond of this version of their grandson, and they felt at peace knowing they were leaving Pottermore, and their last mortal world, in good hands.

There was still a lot left to teach them, but they had faith in those two.

So they wandered all around Pottermore, remembering, lamenting, but mostly, they acknowledged their weariness. They had overheard part of the conversation the night before and agreed with Mal, the worst fate offered to a soul is to live. To be forced to go on when all they wanted to do was rest. This is what led to the breaking of souls.

James and Lily were in the library, curled up on one of the couches, watching the cosmos. They hadn't lived many lives, so they knew they had more lives waiting for them. They also knew they couldn't go back, and were resolved to send Ares back with as much knowledge they could impart. More than that, they wanted him to go back firm in the knowledge that they loved him more than anything, and they were very, very, proud of him and the man he had become, despite the horrors he'd endured.

At the very least, he could go back with his head held high, knowing all of this. Knowing that he had their support. They knew when the time came, he would be taking lives. But, if those lives were allowed to live, their world would be ruined. So they supported him, and no one could damage that feeling in him. It was what James and Lily really wished to accomplish here. So no one, not even the mighty Dumbledore, could use "What would your parents say?" "Do you really think this is what your parents would have wanted?" on Ares. No longer would his parents be used against him, to guilt trip him into whatever scheme that old tosser was planning.

Remus and Tonks were talking about strategy. They also talked about their son and what they hoped he would be like. Knowing deep down there was a chance he was going to be born a lot faster this time around. So the strategy revolved around how to make sure her parents understood and helping those they knew were going to wake up with their memories along with them. Remus focused for a time on how to get Ares away from the Dursley's, while Tonks, made plans to quit the Aurors at the first available opportunity.

Julian, had remained at Pottermore. He too wandered around and was very much alone in his wanderings for part of the day. It was during one of these wanders he found Mal and Ares curled up with each other in the family room. They had their arms around each other, eyes closed, but not sleeping. Here was the chance he'd been waiting for.

"Have you figured it out yet?"

Ares and Mal looked up to see Julian was leaning against the doorframe with a friendly smile on his face.

"Figured what out?" Mal asked.

"How we all know each other?"

Mal and Ares shared a confused look before looking back at Julian.

"That's a no if I ever saw one." He chuckled as he came in and sat down with them. "I figured you guys didn't have your memories." He smiled gently at Ares. "I tried everything I could think of to jog your memory without actually coming out and saying anything. I was quoting word for word some of the things I said to you while training you to be a soldier. Since that didn't work, I thought I'd ask my question. Now it's clear you don't, and likely never will, remember." He rubbed his chin pensively. "That actually might be for the best."

"Was it that bad?" Mal asked nervously.

Julian nodded. "It ended very terribly."

"Tell." Ares said his arms securely around Mal. "It's clear you want to, and we've got nothing else to do today."

Julian shrugged. "Alright. But it's a long tail, with nowhere near a happy ending. It's very much yet another Greek tragedy."

Both Ares and Mal just waited for Julian to stop stalling. Seeing their determination, he nodded and began the tale.

Julian hadn't been there during the afterlife part, but he knew what happened. Mal and Ares, though they went by different names back then, were among the many broken souls. Two thousand years ago, the Artisans had only just begun piecing souls back together, and the infirmary hadn't been thought of yet. They met by accident, or at least that's what was assumed. They immediately got close and wanted to spend a life together. They weren't sure if they were completely in love or not but wanted a lifetime to find out.

Michael adamantly opposed the idea when Gabriel brought him in as a consultant. Mal was shipped back to her first world. It was similar to the one she lived in while under Rida's care, and that's all Julian knew. Ares was put back into his original world, that was basically Mal's version of Ancient Greece.

Their memories had been wiped of each other, as expected, and they grew up in different worlds, never knowing what was missing in them, but feeling that empty place every day. Julian only knew that piece because of what the previous version of Ares confessed to him, and filled in the blanks in later years. Mal had worked as a professional dancer in that life. All of her life she was a dancer. She never married, never bothered being in a relationship with anyone. To be blunt, she never had sex.

Ares grew up as the prince of a kingdom. He was loved by his father, King Photis, and was spoiled, but it never diminished his great character. He trained as a warrior in his own kingdom, though never in a serious manner. He was raised and mostly taught under King Photis's supervision for the day he would take his father's place.

Mal was eventually sucked through some kind of portal, landing in the temple of Aphrodite. Because she couldn't speak the language and fell out of the sky, all who had witnessed the event believed she was a gift from the Gods. Among those in attendance, was Ares.

Ares had been sent to the temple to take a consort now that he was of age. One look at Mal and he had to have her. He'd never felt lust stirring in his loins the way his father always talked about. He'd had urges yes, but never felt the fiery need other men spoke of. He felt it now and brought her home with him to the castle.

At first, she didn't work as a consort as King Photis had envisioned for his son. Mal would dance to earn her keep. Which was a clean room, the right to bathe, and eat regularly. She was treated very well at the castle. Ares was astonished and entranced by her very being. He could watch her dance for hours. Often times at night, he would go to her room and have her dance for him alone.

Because she was confirmed to be untouched by a man and came from the temple of Aphrodite, the elder men were conflicted on how to deal with Mal. On the one hand, she came from the Goddess of Beauty and Love's temple. She should have been perfect for a consort or wife. On the other hand, she was untouched by men, perhaps she was meant to stay that way. It was eventually decided that no man was to touch her. It was believed that any man who defiled her, would be greatly punished by the Gods.

Mal lived in the castle, she learned some words in the Greece language but was far from fluent. She knew just enough to get by. Conversations between Mal and Ares were hardly ever spent speaking. It was mostly with gestures and gentle touches. He taught her enough to make her intentions and wants to be known. She learned the rest by and by.

For two years she worked in the castle as a dancer. For two years, Ares sated his lust with the other consorts of the castle. But it was never enough.

When Ares couldn't stand it any longer, he disobeyed his father and went to her room. This time, when she danced, he stood and touched her as she moved. For several months he'd watch with no clothing on himself while she remained covered. That night, he slowly removed her garments until she was as bare before him as he had been with her. He laid her on the bed and took what he believed the Gods gave him.

Ares never held any hope that after that one night with her it would be enough. It became almost an obsession with him. He took her as much as he could. He was still caring and tentative to her. He was still a gentleman to her. He loved her deeply. Nothing really changed after their relationship became a physical one, except in one aspect, he became territorial about her.

It wasn't unusual for men to show interest in her. Visiting Kings or other nobles would watch her dance during their stay and put bids on her to King Photis to take her away to their Kingdom for their own pleasures. Given that he and the temple guardians agreed she was to remain pure, King Photis always refused.

After they became lovers, it was Ares who now shot them down before King Photis could even speak. The other men would return and speak with King Photis, asking for a private dance, even if his father had granted the request, Ares refused to let Mal leave his sight. Many duels were issued, and Ares won them all. He never killed the other men, but he drew a line the sand, and any man who crossed it, met his blade. No other man was going to touch her.

No one was aware of the fact that they were lovers. Ares was very careful about making sure they were never caught. They wouldn't just have King Photis to deal with, but the temple Guardians as well. He didn't want her to be in trouble for things she couldn't understand.

One night, Ares was lying beside her, when she touched her heart then his, saying the word love. Ares mimicked the gesture, and both cried in happiness. But their moment of joy in each other's love was short-lived.

Because Ares's obsession with Mal began to worry King Photis, he began to consider the offers for her. One King, King Mateo, wanted her for his consort. He upped his offer of gold as well as offering to marry Mal in the temple she appeared in and make her his Queen. King Photis thought it was a good idea. It would negate any wrath the Gods may send upon his kingdom and it would get that girl away from his son. So he wrote back his acceptance.

Ares overheard his father talking his worry over his son's obsession with the girl and the many offers for her hand. Fearful his father would accept them; Ares ran away with Mal to the temple of Hera. He married her there, and they spent the day there as husband and wife. He returned home with her as his wife and begged his father to forgive him, but let him keep his wife.

King Photis, in a fit of fury, refused. Unknown to him up to that point, King Photis had been in negotiations with King Mateo. Ares simply couldn't marry Mal or any other women of Ares's choice as he was already betrothed to the daughter of King Mateo, Princess Delphine, a far better prospect for a bride, more suitable for Ares's station as the crowned prince and future King. At least in the mind of King Photis. Better a woman already of royal blood than a maiden who may or may not be a gift from the Gods.

Mal could just as easily been sent to ruin them all.

The deal had already been sealed, whether Ares liked it or not, there was no arguing about it.

Princess Delphine was to be Ares's wife, then shortly after the marriage, King Photis would step aside and Ares would take over the Kingdom. Mal was already sold to King Mateo, while Ares would marry Princess Delphine in the temple of Hera, as was proper for the King and Queen of the nation; King Mateo would marry Mal in the temple she appeared in so as not to draw the Gods wrath. Upon the arrival of King Mateo and his daughter Princess Delphine, Mal would be handed over to King Mateo, while Princess Delphine was to be on Ares's arm, and wife before sunset.

All of this was explained to Ares, by his very furious father. Ares wasn't even given the chance to argue his side of the story. Either Ares brought her back to the temple of Aphrodite and offer Mal up as a sacrifice to save their kingdom after defiling her, or he was to go back to the temple of Hera, have their marriage stricken from the record and give her up when King Mateo and Princess Delphine arrived. King Mateo would marry Mal, virgin or not, and Ares would take Princess Delphine for his bride, getting a proper wife.

Either way, Mal would no longer be a problem in King Photis's palace or a blight on his kingdom. Ares's father statement ended the one-sided argument. It was resolved in his mind, and Ares would obey, and there wasn't any more to say on the matter.

Ares left, with Mal in tow, not saying another word to his father. As if his father expected this, and everyone knew better than to disobey the king, no one stopped Ares as he left the palace and walked through the city. However, Ares didn't bring Mal to either temple. With nothing but the clothes on their backs and each other, Ares led Mal out of the Kingdom. That was how Julian found them a few days later. Ares explained the situation, and Julian brought them to his Queen.

Queen Melissa had lost her husband and could see the same love and devotion in Ares that hers had for her. She offered him a deal; the villa she grew up in, and a place in her army to earn a living, so long as he vowed to his blade to Queen Melissa and to never lay with any woman but his wife. Something which was unheard of during those times. Most men would make the deal but go behind the backs of those they made the promise to and take other lovers. All the men witnessing this balked at the very idea and sheer audacity of Queen Melissa.

Shocking them even more, Ares made both vows then and there.

With Mal safely in the villa with servants to care for the place and herself, Ares trained with Julian and quickly rose through the ranks to the same standing as Julian. Whenever they were on the battlefield, the enemy never stood a chance. Even when facing off with the soldiers from his former Kingdom, Ares never showed an ounce of mercy if Queen Melissa refused any. Ares's name was spoken with both fear and respect in most circles.

As the other men found pleasure with other women, or with each other when there were no women but the lust was too great, Ares remained true to his vows. He never laid a hand on another woman. It wasn't a hard vow for him to keep, he loved his wife, and he would not betray her.

Ares cared not for the happenings in the Kingdom where he was raised or the politics of the man who he once called father. But there was no denying that there were happenings, and they weren't for the better. Because of Ares's actions, King Photis was unable to follow through with the initial deal as promised for both necessary bodies for the deal to be completed were no longer in the Kingdom. By the time King Photis realized this, it was too late, Ares was already under Queen Melissa's protection. King Photis's managed to calm the temper of King Mateo when he arrived; they had time to make Ares see reason, Princess Delphine was still a child. Eventually, like all men, Ares would desire a younger, healthier woman to carry his children. Both Kings were counting on that fact.

As far as Julian was aware, they never learned about the vow Ares made to the Queen. Any men who knew of it could only be found in Queen Melissa's kingdom or supported her, naturally, they too were at odds with the disgruntled kings. Those men preferred to think that Ares went behind Queen Melissa's back to get lovers, and he was just that good at covering his tracks. Such "foolishness" was never spoken of again after the day the vows were made.

Over the following years, King Photis sent many messengers to Ares. Begging him to come home, they missed him, they _needed_ him. Ares's reply was always the same, he asked what of his wife. Each time, his father refused to acknowledge that Ares had one. Princess Delphine was waiting for Ares to come home and marry her. She was waiting like a dutiful bride to be for her groom. Ares always refused.

As the years went on, and Ares denied his fathers every time, Ares's birthplace had barely been able to avoid all-out war. Though there were still battles that were fought. King Mateo worked with King Photis the entire time, even if it was tense.

Both kings were already at odds with Queen Melissa served under, even before Ares joined her ranks. Now that she was essentially harboring a fugitive, the situation got worse. They sent their combined armies to the battlefield when Queen Melissa refused to cow to Kings Photis and Mateo's demands, be it for Ares, or whatever else they attempted to force out of her. They never even tried to negotiate, they'd show up armed, and threaten her; demanding her submission. After her husband's death, she submitted to no one but herself.

Shocking both Kings each time they attempted this; Ares stood by Queen Melissa during each battle. They brought whoever they thought could sway Ares back to his father's side, but Ares didn't even hesitate to kill his own cousin and former friends when his Queen demanded it.

During the reprieve from battles, both Ares's and Julian's men were welcome at the villa. While Julian and the other men relaxed and found comfort in willing women, Ares hardly left his bedroom. The men could hear what was happening, given the open nature of the villa, but they rarely saw the couple who was hosting them.

When it was time to leave again, Ares never wanted to leave his wife's arms, just as she never wanted to let him go. Duty called, however, and the couple parted ways. Julian thought they weathered their separation with grace and understanding he'd never seen before. Those years were well spent, and very little trouble actually touched the villa where Mal resided.

But, Greece was a tragic place, and the couple had built up a lot of enemies. Try as he might Princess Delphine and King Mateo soon left King Photis, and the kingdom was not left in good standing. King Photis sent scathing messages when none were answered, he turned up in person to yell at Ares for betraying him.

When Ares's father attempted to make Ares see that he'd been cursed by the Gods, Ares showed him the truth of his life. He had a loving wife who was carrying his child, he had an army, good standing with Queen Melissa, and wanted for nothing except more time with his wife. He wasn't cursed, if anything he'd been blessed. If his father could see that, if his father could accept that, he would come home.

King Photis left without another word, and stony determination was written on his face. Julian didn't learn until after it was all over what came to pass during and after that visit. The tale was turned into a tragic ballad by survivors in later years.

After the failure of luring Ares home, the failure of confronting him, and being forced to realize his son was doing far better under Queen Melissa than King Photis was as a King, and far better than Ares would have been if he took over the throne to his birth kingdom now; King Photis went to the only other person who could understand his pain and humiliation.

King Mateo and Princess Delphine were looking for ways to get revenge on Ares, as well as King Photis, but King Photis arrived seeking redemption and revealed what he had learned. The information the father and daughter team needed, as well as the physical location of where the "wife" was so as to strike fatal blow there as well, came from King Photis, and he knew exactly what he was doing when it gave to the two of them.

The two kings amicably struck up a bargain to get what they wanted above all else right now, revenge. King Photis pretended to make amends and asked to visit Ares and Mal to apologize and try to work things out. Ares gave his permission and went home with his men.

Upon arrival, the two Kings were waiting with their armies. While Ares was captured and drugged, his men were slaughtered with little regard and then immediately forgotten. Their bodies weren't even given proper respect, much less a burial. They were slaughtered outside the villa and left to rot in the sun and for the carrion birds to feast on.

While drugged, Princess Delphine married an unaware/ unwilling Ares, and using more concoctions, consummated their marriage. Ares wasn't aware of any of what was happening, but his body acted on instinct. Giving any onlookers the impression that Ares was a willing participant in all of this. For two weeks, Ares was kept drugged in that state, and Princess Delphine only stopped her "honeymoon" for basic needs, such as food, rest, and other basic needs the body has.

Since the cavalry arrived a week before Ares, Mal was beaten and tortured every day. Alternating between the kings and the princess as the administer of her treatment. When Ares arrived, Mal became hopeful to be saved, but she was one of the witnesses forced to watch what happened to Ares's army. Ares would hit with a dart that knocked him unconscious and he fell on the field. The next time Mal saw him, was at his "wedding" to Princess Delphine.

At first, Mal wanted to deny it was true, but the taunts from the Kings, and Delphine while Ares was in bed with Princess Delphine, gave the illusion the two kings wanted. As they hoped, Mal's heart broke first, then the next time Princess Delphine came to torture her, Mal's body broke. How she kept from miscarrying the baby within her was a mystery that was never answered.

Now that their revenge on Mal had been fulfilled, it was time for their revenge on Ares.

They stopped the drugging, and Ares awoke to his senses once more, only to find a horrific scene before his villa, his screams altered his intruders that he was awake. King Photis and King Mateo told him all that they had done to him, to Mal, with the final declaration that they had succeeded in breaking Mal's spirit.

They brought Ares to the bedroom where King Mateo was having his with Mal. Something he wanted above all else before they finished what else they had planned. Princess Delphine sat on her husband's lap, her dress hiding the fact that his hands were tied, telling Ares to watch as her father broke the woman that stole Ares from her.

When finished, King Mateo dragged the broken and bloody Mal to the floor in front of Ares and Princess Delphine. Ares saw the broken look in her eyes and knew Mal believed he'd betrayed her and that he was in on all of this. Then he saw her mind leave her eyes, and she was unaware of what followed.

Ares cried and begged them to let her go. He begged his father, if not for him do it for his grandchild. King Mateo held Mal up by the rags that barely clothed her, King Photis said that child wasn't his grandchild. Princess Delphine giggled and ran a hand over her abdomen saying the child she birthed would be King Photis's grandchild. Her child with Ares, a pure-blooded royal. She would raise her son alongside King Photis, and one day, that son would rule the Kingdom Ares was meant to. Their son would not abandon his post as his father had.

King Photis pulled out a sword; Ares fought against his restraints and Princess Delphine sitting in his lap, who filled the room with girlish laughter. He screamed, begged, and pleaded with all of his might, but nothing stopped his father from walking forward and stabbing Mal clear through her abdomen. Killing not only her but the child she was carrying.

That was Ares's breaking point.

Having had her revenge against the couple, and with no doubt in her mind, she was now carrying Ares's heir, she left with a small contingent of bodyguards to return to King Photis's Kingdom. There she would be waiting in the King's bed. It mattered not if it was Ares or King Photis who came home to greet her there. She would still have Ares's heir.

Princess Delphine was well and truly satisfied and her need for vengeance complete. However, the two Kings weren't finished by a long shot. They had their revenge against Mal, but they still had more in store for Ares. His pain had only just begun.

Over the course of many weeks, he was tortured. Limbs were removed and sent back to Queen Melissa. Piece by piece until they cut out his heart and sent it last. They sent it to her as punishment for "taking" what was not hers to begin with, and as a message that these two kings were not to be messed with.

"I only learned that both of you had been killed by King Photis and King Mateo after Queen Melissa received your heart. She sent scouts, but the villa was too heavily guarded, and she knew by the time we got there, it would have been too late anyway. She made the attack known once we had your heart. She had it cooked and all of us ate a piece, so we could carry your strength within us." Julian said remorsefully. "We all marched out to the villa, where the last of the maids and servants were trying to collect themselves after the Kings left the day before. We took the time to cremate everyone there, after confirming who was who. It was difficult given the state of the corpses. You were a husk of what you once were, and Mal was left with the rest of the corpses. It was a horrifying state.

"There wasn't a day that went by after that where I didn't regret taking you up on the invitation to go with you. I had a bad feeling, but believed you when you said there was no threat."

Ares was now clinging to Mal, and she was to him.

"I don't know if it helps, but Queen Melissa personally helped cremate you and the others at the villa. She took the servants back home, where she had them tell the tale to all of her advisors and allies. Later, the whole Kingdom and the ally kingdoms knew what was done by the two kings. There was no question, there were no arguments when she called for war, all shouted in favor." Julian took a deep breath, to gather himself and say this next part right. "We went after King Mateo first. His army was smaller, and fresh off the success he just had, he wasn't prepared, and he outclassed as his better fighters were still with Princess Delphine. Two days, that's all it took. Two days and the army was finished. The people pledged to Queen Melissa when she personally beheaded Mateo and his harem in front of the entire Kingdom. She swore to them she would not be this kind of leader, and she would be one that they could proudly follow. Many of them were confused, but then one of the brave maids who now attended the Queen, but were formerly at the villa, told the story to that Kingdom. The Kingdom fell to their knees, and she was praised.

"The next was King Photis's kingdom. We snuck in under cover of darkness. The army quietly went after all of the soldiers in the castle, I and Melissa went to the King's chamber. I dragged the King from his bed and stabbed his shoulders to the wall with my daggers. Melissa dragged Delphine out of bed, shoving potions down her throat. We dragged the two before the Kingdom the next morning. The army battled the soldiers who tried to fight, most dropped their weapons, knowing the battle was lost. In front of everyone, she proclaimed that the former Princess Delphine was now a whore with a pretty name. Her father was dead, her Kingdom was gone, and her child that she claimed was Ares, was now dripping from her whom in the form of blood. The potions Melissa gave her, were to kill the babe in the whom and render Delphine sterile. King Photis was then disemboweled in front of everyone."

Julian coughed a bit, knowing it was a lot of detail, decided to wrap it up. "Both kings were killed without honor, and their corpses were left in the same state that they left the soldiers under Ares back at the villa. Only this time, no one made a move to give them a proper send off. Once the healers confirmed Delphine was not pregnant before the administering of the potions, and would never have children now, Delphine was severely beaten and her once pretty mutilated by Melissa before she was thrown to the streets of her former Kingdom. Forced to live among the rags of society that hated the royal family and took every chance to attack them. What was further done to her, I cannot say. I can say with all certainty that Delphine later died of disease. It was a slow and rather painful death."

Mal and Ares still had nothing to say. Julian sighed and was beginning to wonder if he shouldn't have told them. But, it was hard for him not to. Ares had been his best friend, like a brother to him. Julian never had a brother or a sister for that matter. He was the only son of a soldier; Julian's mother died in childbirth taking his baby sister with her when he was just a boy of two. His father took other women to bed, but he never sired another child. He'd gone to an apothecary and drank a poison that rendered himself sterile so he'd never put another woman through that. He could still perform; jut not sire children.

Julian was more or less raised on the battlefield. He never regretted his lot in life. Never asked for more than what he was given. What he earned he kept, what was given to him was respected. He never regretted not marrying. While he may have been lovers with Queen Melissa for a time after the death of Ares, it more for comfort for both of them than it was love. They respected each other and needed that comfort to carry on with their lives, nothing more.

Having seen how Ares was with Mal back then, even if the two couldn't speak the same language, Julian couldn't imagine having less than that. So despite the offers for his hand, he never wed a woman. Though the women who sought his hand didn't understand, Queen Melissa did, and never spoke of word of marriage.

Being brought to Ares all over again, Julian had hoped his former friend would make an appearance, and he could pick things up where they left off. But it was clear now, even after hearing the story that it wasn't going to happen. The memories of that life had been wiped clean.

"It's a blessing you don't remember." He eventually said, drawing the couple's attention once more. "Mal died believing you had betrayed her. Ares, you died knowing she believed this and was killed because in your mind you couldn't protect her. You trusted too easily."

Julian sighed as he continued. "I was told that when you came back, you were both nothing but fetuses with shattered pieces of souls no bigger than a grain of sand all around you. There were more pieces than there were actual souls, and the artisans couldn't even see the pieces to fix the both of you. When other souls came back like this, they were simply purified and turned into energy. Many seem to believe that God only put you back together with pieces of the other because she couldn't tell the two apart. The Artisans certainly couldn't."

"What a bunch of bullshit."

Julian looked at Mal in shock. The first version of her rarely spoke, and he doubted she'd ever say anything like that even if she had spoken the same language.

"Just because they couldn't do their job, doesn't that God didn't know what she was doing." Mal argued sitting up, Ares rubbing her back in comfort. "God knew what she was doing by putting our souls together the way she did. She was ignored before, so she was going to make damn sure that nothing could keep us apart for long this time around. I can't say I wouldn't do anything differently!"

Julian looked back at Ares, "She always this opinionated and loud?"

Ares smiled and pulled Mal close again. "Yup. And I wouldn't change it for the world. Someone needs to have a strong constitution to reign me in when I overstep my limit."

Julian sat back and watched the new versions of the people he once knew. Before, Ares had been reserved, as had Mal. They both had hard limits placed on them. They were closed off, guarded, forever looking over their shoulders. Until the one time, they didn't.

This couple; Ares was bold, but cautious, trying to outsmart his enemies. Mal was strong-willed and wasn't afraid to ask the hard questions. Both were honest and open.

They were free. Free from whatever kept their souls bound in the first time around.

Julian like this version of them much better. Even if they didn't remember. He looked forward to getting to know them all over again.

 **}TLCW{**

When the Arch Angels returned, the new training began.

Ares found himself really enjoying the potion lessons despite his previous worries. His mother had a knack for teaching these things, and a passion about them he never would have pegged her form. Ultimately, he resolved, even if Snape couldn't be saved, then he was going to work harder at this subject regardless.

Mal thrived with her potions training. Ares could see, if his mother had been alive, this would have been a subject that the two could have bonded over for years to come. He could easily see his wife taking an apprenticeship with his mother. Him sneaking into her room during her stays with them, his mother none the wiser that he was corrupting her innocent apprentice.

Mal must have sensed his train of thought because she punched his arm during his musing causing him to laugh.

Herbology, however, was a miss with both of them. While Ares got the purpose of the plants, as well as how they worked in the potions, the actual carrying for them he could leave for another to do. Mal was of the same opinion but knew for the purposes of her school work that she would inevitably need this knowledge.

Though she did go the extra mile and ask if there was a way to turn off one's sense of smell while working with the fertilizer. When they said no, she asked why someone hadn't thought of a spell, or potion, to do so.

No one had an answer. It was another simple thing that could have been dealt with using magic, but it was something that had been done for centuries, so no effort was spent to change it.

When it came time for the physical workouts, Mal could understand Ares's pain. She had to jog around the flat earth once. She had to do the crunches and push up. It was at that point she crashed down. Screaming she'd a bike or a swim! But not any more of that workout. Ares just laughed. He tried to join her, but Julian and Satan were having none of it.

While Julian and Satan kept up with their weapons training with Ares, Michael and Gabriel worked with Mal on her self-defense. They had no idea what kind of home situation she was going to be going into. Sure, they could write for years to get the details down, but it all came down to mortal choices. Things could pear shape the minute their souls touched the ground. So they thought it was best to prepare for the worst. They expanded upon what little experience she already had, and helped her gain confidence in her ability.

They learned about Wizarding Law, and they learned about their positions. What role they would have to play, and how to get more information once they were in Pottermore again. Monty and James stressed not to go there until Ares was out from under Dumbledore's control. Else Dumbledore would tear through the wards by any means necessary, and as Ares's Guardian, he would have legal right to do so and demand Ares let him anywhere within the Castle.

Mal was so furious upon hearing that, her magic reacted and she accidentally blew out the walls for the entire back half of Pottermore. It had quickly repaired, but everyone had seen it happen, and they were all in a state of shock. Even Michael could only stare wide-eyed at the spectacle.

Lily and Mia immediately decided to work occlumency into the plans. Both for Mal and for Ares. Gabriel and Michael helped as well so they could speed the process along. This skill was generally what helped the white wings control their own emotions. Even if the younger generations weren't aware of this. They explained this would make things much easier for them once they went back to the mortal plane. For every day they spent in their mindscape, it was one minute in reality. This would give them the chance to review all of their memories from the moment of their mortal bodies birth, to their souls being placed back in their mortal bodies. It would also help keep their knowledge locked away as well. Which the angels were already doing, but this added another layer of protection.

When creating hers, Mal's did indeed take the form of the Secret Garden. However, dropping down into the small stone pond revealed Ariel's grotto. Only it wasn't human items stored in that cave. It was underwater treasures. Going out into the open ocean, the place appeared to be just like the area from the first Kingdom Hearts game. Going down a special hole to the left the grotto, brought the person down to a clearing where there were a wrecked ship and sharks circling nearby attacking anyone who got near them. Giving the impression that the true memories were stored in the ship. However, thanks to the angel's protection, instead of a rock hiding the path to Ursula's lair, it was just a solid wall, with no cracks. Only those allowed or with the knowledge of the angels could see the opening along the wall of rock.

Beyond that, in Ursula's lair, amid the many potions and the cauldron in the center were Mal's real memories. Her memories would be stored in all three locations, but only the knowledge of the afterlife and the memories of her previous lives would be hidden in the lair.

Ares's mindscape was much different. It started as the Dursley's house. Just as Albus would expect. Holding his memories of his young childhood, from his baby days to the day he got his Hogwarts letter in the cupboard under the stairs. In the small bedroom, He stored all of his years at Hogwarts. At least, up until the point, he would be dropped into a mortal shell again. Going outside, there was a rather large hole. It was concealed by Petunia's rose bushes, and it one had to really search for it, but it was there.

Jumping down the hole, it was a dark slide, almost like Alice's trip down her rabbit hole. Bringing a person out to the apparition point of Pottermore. Inside, Ares stored his memories in the library. Setting up all of the defenses that Pottermore had between the front door and the library. All of his knowledge about the afterlife was stored in that elusive third-floor library, and unless you were in on the knowledge of the afterlife, or given permission, no one could access that library. Not even Dumbledore with his precious Elder Wand.

For a brief moment, Ares wondered about the Elder Wand but shook his head. Assuming that the Elder Wand was just another powerful item and not actually created by Death.

Still, something persisted in the back of his mind.

"Hey, love?"

"Yeah?" Mal called as she brushed her hair in the bathroom.

"So, no portals exist to and from worlds, am I right?"

She came into the bedroom and nodded. "To my knowledge and understanding, yes."

"Then, what's the veil of Death?"

She collapsed on the bed as she thought about it. "I, I have no idea."

Ares nodded. "I'm confused about it. When we were setting up our mindscapes and defenses, I thought how not even Dumb-as-a-Door could get into that third library even with his Elder Wand. And that begged the question-"

"What role do the Deathly Hollows and the Veil of Death play?" Mal asked, understanding where he was going with this.

"Do you think we should ask the Arch Angels?"

Mal nodded. "Definitely. This is something that needs to be answered. I'd say let's hunt them down now, but I'm suddenly very exhausted."

Ares was already asleep as Mal laid down on the bed, curling up into him.

 **}TLCW{**

From her perch in her room, God let out a long breath "Phew!"

Still, she smiled at the two of them. "You are smart, and you're on the right track. But I'm afraid it's still too soon for you guys to be asking those kinds of questions. Someday, hopefully on that day, Michael won't try to do anything stupid, but not today. This venture must succeed first."

Her hair rippled as she giggled. Then she tilted her head to the side and she noticed something else happening in her domain. She glared at the situation.

"Oh no, you don't!" She growled. "I think instead of waiting, let's speed that process up a little bit. That should get the situation given its due attention and be dealt with accordingly."

She sighed and sat down in her chair that looked like a golden U on a short pedestal. Leaning against the side she watched the worlds progress. She sighed again.

"Oh my. So much to do, and yet," she looked down at the sleeping couple. "And yet."

 **}TLCW{**

During a break day, Lily and James found Mal and Ares in the library, both working on their occlumency.

"Mind if we cut in?" James chuckled as he entered the room.

"Actually James," Lily sighed as she sniffed back tears. Closing her eyes and shaking her head. "You do this, I can't. I just, I can't."

She turned and walked out of the room without another word.

"Mum?" Ares called as he tried to go after her.

But James caught him by the shoulder. "Actually lad, let her go. This is difficult for her, and I'm sure you'll understand once I tell this story." James looked at Mal. "He's going to need you to be here for this, so as much as you want to go after Lily, which I appreciate, he's going to need you more."

Mal nodded and sat back down. Ares sitting beside her, taking her hand was more habit now than it was anything else. It felt natural to be in contact with her. To be without it when she was near felt wrong.

"What's this about dad?" Ares asked.

James sighed and hung his head for a while before raising it and meeting his son's and daughter in law's eyes. "We've told you about how Snape was our friend from the beginning, but what we didn't tell you, is we had another friend."

"Petunia." Mal surmised.

Ares looked at Mal with a look that screamed, _excuse me!?_

She shrugged. "Given her actions during one of your lives, what you told me she said, I suspected that might have been the case. She spoke to James as if she was speaking to someone she'd known for years. There was no other explanation for it. Certainly not the words of someone who only saw the guy a handful of times. And Petunia never displayed the insanity one would need to be a stalker of that kind of magnitude. She certainly wouldn't have been able to marry another man, much less raise his child."

Ares looked to his father for confirmation. Not that he doubted Mal, he just needed to know.

James nodded. "Because we were all very close early one, Petunia was as much our friend as Snape was. At least, she was friends with me and Lily. Not so much Snape we later learned, but he didn't want to spoil our friendships by saying one thing and her saying another, and Lily taking her side because they were sisters.

"Petunia and Lily were actually really close, even after Lily started to go to Hogwarts. They wrote to each other practically every day. We didn't learn until much later that she was actually desperate to be a witch herself. As the years went on, and she couldn't perform any magic, not even a slide of hand, she steadily became jealous of Lily. More so as the years went on. Then, she was bitter about it, further poisoning her heart and mind."

James ran a hand through his unruly hair and avoided looking at Ares. "Of course, this meant that I knew her from a young age as well. We wrote letters back and forth after the summer after first year. Second year is really what began my friendship with her and our correspondence. I wanted to know more about muggle life, the world Lily grew up in and wanted to have a piece of in her life forever. I figured the best place to get that information was from Petunia. Your mother wasn't averse to being my friend, being more came much later in our Hogwarts' years.

"Petunia used Lily's owl, Athena, that I got for her birthday so she could write to her family and they could write back to her. Since keeping contact while in Hogwarts is difficult. Even the mirrors we thought up later wouldn't work for muggles. Only a witch and wizard can make them work."

James looked away and sighed deeply. Mal noticed there was a lot of sighing. He was obviously putting off telling this story. Though she had a feeling she knew where this was going, and why. She looked at Ares, he met her eyes and nodded a bit. He'd figured it out too. So they sat back and let James tell the story in his own time. Long sigh breaks where he needed. Which was often.

"Anyway, we were good friends, at least I thought I we were. Lily knew about our letters and everything. I kept no secrets from her, but Petunia was very reluctant to tell Lily about any of our correspondence. I had no idea why. Lily read my letters after I'd written them to see if I made any mistakes or if there were details, I had omitted or needed to omit for obvious reasons. She also got to read Petunia's letters to me, so nothing in them was secret from Lily. There was nothing to really keep secret.

"I never saw it coming, though looking back, I probably should have, but I didn't. Maybe I had filters, maybe Petunia was a good actress, I have no idea. But I never realized until much later in the future that she wanted more from me. More than I was ever willing to give her."

Ares' hand tightened in grip in Mal's. She returned it while scooting closer and laying the other hand on her arm.

"As the years went on, we had our roles to play. I was the enemy, Snape was bullied by me, and Lily eventually came to hate us both. I wrote to Petunia, often, course I didn't tell her the truth of what was going on, she might tell her parents and they would take Lily and run. I didn't want that, plus the less Petunia knew, the more she was protected. She became very much the sister I never had.

"Apparently, according to her parents, she had vowed after meeting me that she would marry a wizard, and have his children so she could be a part of the magical world as well as Lily. They saw no problem with it, and had no idea that she had a specific husband already picked out." At that James pointed to himself. "In sixth year, Lily and I began to slowly make our true relationship known. I began going steady with her back in fourth year, but we only began to show bits and pieces in the sixth year. That summer, it was time to do something we wanted to back when we first got together; announce it to my, and her, parents, eventually the extended family as well.

"I came over one night, we had a lovely dinner and sat down for some tea afterward. Petunia sat to my left, and Lily sat to my right. Then Lily took my hand and said we were going steady. Had been for a while, but we wanted to wait until we were sure it could have a future before we told anyone. Now, we knew. I was ever so relieved and happy when they approved and gave their blessing to keep courting her. I think her mum knew eventually where it would end up, but didn't say it out loud.

"That's when we looked to Tuni, sorry Petunia, that was her nickname. She had been very quiet over in her corner on the couch. That's when we noticed the look of utter shock, and how it turned to anger as she eventually realized what we were saying. She threw the biggest tantrum I had ever seen. I'd never seen anyone, except the most undisciplined child, behave that way. She screamed things and tried to pull me away from Lily. Eventually, she was sent to her room until I left. Which was scant minutes later. I was too shocked to be of any comfort to Lily that night.

"I found out from Lily later that Petunia went into their parents' room that night. She demanded that they stop Lily from seeing me. Petunia saw me first, she laid claim to me first, Lily had no right to me. It wasn't fair that Lily got to be a witch, and get the Wizard at the same time. So she demanded they tell Lilly to back off, and demand that I court Petunia instead."

"I can only assume they refused if they said anything at all after a shock like that." Mal couldn't help but comment.

James shrugged. "No idea. Next thing I knew, I had received a long letter from Petunia. Claiming that she was in love with me, that she had always been love with me. She talked about how much better we would be together than Lily and I. She begged and pleaded with me to answer her and tell her that I felt the same. She knew I did. So many of my letters to her confirmed it. I stopped writing to her then, but she kept writing. Only to me. She barely even spoke to her parents; she wouldn't even look at Lily. It was only when she wrote me a letter begging me to run away with her and get her pregnant so we had to get married when Lily insisted that I write back. Petunia wanted us to meet up at the train station in London and sneak away before the Express took off and go somewhere else, anywhere else, and begin a new life together."

There was another long pause as James struggled to find the words to continue.

"I wrote back. Telling her how sorry I was. I never meant to mislead her. While I knew I hadn't, I knew I needed to say that, at least for her sake. To drive the point home. I told her that I had only ever loved Lily, and thought of Petunia as an older sister. Like the one I lost before I was born." James smiled a bit. "When we got to the platform, Petunia was waiting there, a smile on her face, a large bag in hand, but I merely waved and went with Lily through the barrier. I got on the express with her and the rest of the Marauders, and we were headed back to our last year at Hogwarts.

"We learned the following weekend from Lily's parents that it was while their backs were turned that Petunia ran away. They searched for hours, but it was eventually learned that she took a train somewhere else. She rode several different trains, taking Lily's parents out to some remote places. Eventually, they learned she took a train back into London where she left the station. They did find her right before the letter was written. In a hospital. She'd been working as a hooker, someone beat her up, but we weren't sure if she was raped, or if the guy was just rough with her. Petunia wouldn't say either way.

"That Christmas, I asked her parents if I could marry Lily. I then told my parents about my intentions. Both gave their blessing. I asked her to marry me on Christmas day, she said yes. I celebrated with her and her family for a while. Petunia was hidden away in her room; I never saw her then." His voice began breaking, and he had to cough a couple of times to get a somewhat normal voice back again. "That night, I was out celebrating with the Marauders before Moody dragged us all out of the bar and into holding cells for a few hours for being drunk and disorderly. I went home for a while but decided to spend the last couple of nights with Lily and her parents before the beginning of the next term. Petunia slipped into my bed naked on that first night and began to stroke me. I freaked out as soon as I realized what was happening.

"The first time, she merely licked her fingers saying I wanted her. It was just a matter of time and she left the room." He hung his head. "I didn't tell Lily right away, but before bed the next night, and took her aside and told her. I told her I was worried that Petunia would try it again. Lily, chose to believe that her sister wasn't that kind of person and would respect my wishes, but I held my doubts. This time, when she crawled into bed with me, I immediately shoved her out before she could touch me and threatened her at wand point to not do it again. She left with her lower lip quivering; all the while still naked as a jaybird. The third time, I began shouting at her, forgetting the silencing charms, and the rest of the family came running in. Lily slapped Petunia on the face and stopped mending the bridges between them that night."

"What did Petunia say to make Lily react like that?" Mal asked.

"How did you know that Petunia said something?" James asked concerned.

Mal merely raised an eyebrow, looked toward the door, then back at him. "I haven't known you that long, but I would like to think I know you well enough to understand your reaction to things. Lily is hot-tempered yes, and catching her sister in bed with you after you warned her would have angered her yes, but not enough to warrant that kind of reaction."

James gave a half-hearted smile before looking at Ares. "Did I ever tell you how proud I am of you for finding a good one?"

Ares merely grinned. "Never hurts to hear it again."

"Petunia called Lily a slut. Then began to exaggerate what we'd done in bed together, and what would have happened if Lily hadn't interrupted." James answered looking back at Mal. "School life went on just the same after that, we made our engagement known at the end of graduation. She took her apprenticeship, and I took mine with the Auror Corps. We started planning our wedding, and Petunia was engaged shortly before our wedding, to Vernon. No one was sure how she met him, Lily's parents suspected he was the man who beat her up something terrible, but we had no proof, and Vernon was never anything by nice to her when they were in public, or alone. She seemed so in love with Vernon that Lily and I began to make partial amends with her.

"This led to Petunia sneaking into my dressing room before the wedding wearing Lily's dress. We fought, and Lily cut her out of the dress with her wand before transfiguring it into something else for the wedding. Which I was grateful for. The last thing we needed was our wedding to be ruined by Petunia wearing Lily's dress before she did."

"What did Vernon have to say about this?" Mal wondered. "Surely he must have heard the fight."

"Oh, he did." James assured her, "He was aware of magicals at this point. As we'd told him about it. He didn't want to know more, but we told him what we could having been given permission and were under orders to obliviate him if it came to that. She claimed to him she was trying to save Lily from making a terrible mistake. She could be a witch, that was fine, but don't marry one and cement herself in that abnormal world. It was fine to be a freak, but don't invite it to further infect the next generation and ruin years of good breeding. Something Vernon understood and approved of."

"She said exactly what he wanted to hear." Mal shook her head. "She didn't believe his ideas, but she pandered to them just the same."

James nodded. "Once again, contact was minimal, and we were busy with the war. We barely had time for other magicals, let alone muggles."

"Then came the pregnancy announcements." Mal said, knowing it was something along those lines that caused the canon falling out between the sisters.

James nodded. "Petunia had just bragged all about it to their parents when Lily came in announced the same. Petunia lost it. She said Lily should abort her baby because she could never give James a worthy heir like Petunia could have. Lily was trash! A Freak! Petunia could have given him so much more! Their child would be a monster and filth like Lily! Better it be saved the embarrassment of having Lily as a mother than be forced to live with the reality. Petunia then provided places where Lily could get said abortion and apparently had appoints already made for her. Though those appointments were for Lily to get sterilized, all it would take was a phone call to change it to an abortion, then a follow up for sterilization."

Ares stood and paced to the window to look out. It was as calming as Mal's presence was. She stood and laid a hand on his back.

"I find it hard to believe that Vernon never knew about any of this." Mal said looking back at James sympathetically.

"Oh, he did."

Everyone looked at Gabriel who was standing in the doorway.

"Don't you angels have anything better to do than Eavesdrop?" Ares asked, still looking out the window, his arms folded behind his back, his fists clenched together to keep himself from having a violent reaction.

Everyone knew present knew him well enough to know that it wasn't Gabriel that had Ares so upset.

Gabriel merely came in and rested back in a chair while putting his feet on the table. Unconcerned, and unphased. "Vernon was very much aware of Petunia's obsession with James. But he also knew she was his one and only chance at getting a decent wife and family, so quickly courted, and married Petunia before she changed her mind. She was pregnant before she could change her mind about that too. So long as James was never around or even brought up, she was his ideal wife.

"With James and Lily's deaths, he had hoped that Petunia's obsession had well and truly ended with them. But the more Ares grew up, the more both Dursley's saw James reborn. To Vernon, James as a freak who never should have existed if he wasn't going to be a slave to those of better society, like Vernon." At Ares threatening growl, Gabriel raised his hands in surrender despite Ares's back to him. "Hey! I'm just saying what was in his mind."

Mal rubbed Ares's back in comfort as she laid her other hand on his stomach. "Please, continue, and do try not to quote that vermin's thoughts again."

Gabriel readily nodded. "Anyway, he knew what Petunia did that afternoon because of the afterglow he was familiar with, but far more pronounced than he'd ever seen it. He knew immediately what had happened, and despite knowing that it was Petunia who did it all, he was resolved to kill Ares so he could keep his wife and family together. If Petunia left him all that was left were the diseased riddled prostitutes that would only let Vernon touch them after he paid."

Mal shook her head and rested her forehead against Ares's shoulder. "Can't we live in a universe where people aren't this twisted and complicated."

Ares sighed. "Not ruddy likely."

Gabriel nodded his sentiments. "Unfortunately, until more of the taint infecting humanity is cleared, there will be more people like this."

Ares took a breath. "I expected as much." He brought the hand Mal had on his stomach to his lips. "I'm fine. Thank you for that love, but I'm alright."

He continued to stare out the window at his land, his home. Standing in his library. With his wife and lady at his side. "Gabriel, out of respect for our friendship, please, kindly take your dirty feet off my table."

Gabriel slowly removed his feet from the table. Even sitting upright in his chair. Straightening his clothes as he did so. He cleared his throat and coughed a little.

Mal giggled and smiled at Ares. "You enjoy scaring him way too much."

Ares shrugged as he chuckled. "Perhaps."

"Anyway . . ." Gabriel said drawing out the word. He met Mal's eyes. "Michael wants us all in the family room. Apparently, a request from your family has been granted."

 **}TLCW{**

"Excuse me!?" Mal asked more than a little shocked.

"They want to watch your lives, all of them, like they had been able to with Ares." Michael explained as he tapped the mirror above the fireplace. "They want to know all about you, and talk you through whatever other doubts you may have."

"But I don't have any!" Mal insisted.

"And do you still think less of yourself for having to work as a stripper?" Mia asked critically.

To that, Mal pursed her lips and tapped her knuckles together but said nothing. Ares just smiled and rubbed her back.

Mia nodded. "We did this for Ares, and we have systematically given him the closer he needs by loving him and helping him onward with his quest." Mia smiled gently. "Monty and I are in for the long sleep after this. We may not even last long. I want to leave this place and go to sleep in Heaven knowing that I've done everything that I can for my family. Please permit this old woman that sense of peace."

Mal sighed defeated and she nodded.

With a sigh of his own, Michael hit play. Sitting by Gabriel and Satan as he did so. Sirius and Julian were the only ones sitting in chairs.

Mal opted to snooze in Ares's lap as they watched the lives she lived play out.

Having heard them was different from seeing them, at least now Ares had faces with the names. To everyone else, this was new. They knew about the last life and they heard about the deaths, but seeing everything that Mal endured at the hands of that family was, was, terrible was just too nice a word, but it was as close as they got without cursing up a storm.

Mal woke up as the screen went back to being a plan mirror.

"My realm!" Satan said with venom. He looked over at Ares. "I'll have them put on ice till you get there. You want the same with the bastards from your world?"

Ares nodded as he hugged Mal close.

"Do the same with the Dursley's, as well as Molly when you do. Hermione and Ginny as well if they haven't repented or been given an alternate punishment already." Mal said softly from his embrace.

Mia's eyes had tears falling down her cheeks as she shook her head. "Everything you endured, it's a miracle you're not worse off than you my dear."

Mal shrugged. "When I finally got away, the stories I found gave me some help. Closure that not all of the world behaved that way, and many wished for different things and better places."

"What kind of stories?" Ares asked in a teasing manner.

"Haha." Mal mocked, "you already know."

"Still like it if you'd tell me." He said as he snuggled in closer. So she was looking at only him as she talked.

Mal laughed before she obliged him. "Well, I read the canon verse, then a friend introduced me to the fanfiction, and I was hooked. Among my favorites are Sirensong, Up Yours Dumbles, The Lightning Lord, Savior of Magic – which that one is essentially a rewrite of Lightning Lord with a continuation that the Lightning Lord didn't have because Harry was so OP to begin with or something along those lines, Daft Morons, and the one I was reading before coming here was Harry Crow. In that one, Vernon abandoned Harry with the Goblins and he was Goblin raised!"

Ares threw his head back and laughter before mellowing down and frowning at her. "Please tell me I wasn't a merman in Sirensong."

"No." Mal said quickly. "You were a Siren. You had black wings, you could breathe underwater, you were a sex machine, and extremely monogamist."

Ares chuckled as he drew Mal closer for a kiss, before devouring her mouth with his, he growled. "Damn right."

Ares couldn't help it, even with people there. She thought about him, dreamed about him, and loved him before even meeting him. Him, the person, not the boy who lived, Gryffindor's Golden Boy, Dumbledore's Man, or the defeater of Voldemort – The Man Who Slayed. If he suddenly turned into a milkman with nothing of value to offer, she'd still love him and choose him over all the rest. She'd take him in any form, no matter his backstory, no matter the career path, no matter his riches, or physical state. She'd take him. The soul, the heart. Just as he'd take her.

When he pulled back, her cheeks were red and buried her face in his chest. Her hair turning candy apple red while she did so.

"That's it!" Tonks shrieked jumping to her feet scaring everyone in the room. "No one! And I repeat, _**no one**_ , gets to claim her again until she has mastered being able to morph at will."

"I can only do my hair." Mal protested weakly.

Tonks narrowed her eyes. "Doesn't matter bitch, from now until it's time to leave, you're mine!"

Mal shuddered. "I should mention that another of my favorites was Rune Stone Path, where Harry was a Rune Savant, and he had a harem."

Everyone in the room froze.

"And you were in that harem Tonks. Most of the girls had fun with each other, as well as Harry. Hearing you say that just made me think of Tonks being all playful in the story, something along the lines of, " _You're my bitch now!_ " right before you had sex with Fleur or something."

Tonks went cherry red staring at Mal in disbelief. Then looked curious, "Really?"

Mal proceeded to bite Ares before climbing on top of him. "Mine, Bitch! You have your walking fluffy toy and Bestiality Porn! Leave me and my man out of it!"

Tonks pouted, grinning viciously towards the end. "But it would have been so much fun, and don't diss a werewolf's tongue till you've had it licking you front to back."

Mal paled. "Oh, dear sweet Lord, what have I done?"

Everyone, even Michael, laughed hysterically.

 **}TLCW{**

They stood at the apparition point of the property looking at everything as they held hands. Their training was now complete, and it was time to go. Each were marveling at the place that would one day be their actual home. Though they would miss the company, especially since they would never see this version of Monty and Mia again.

"Oh." Mal said as the thought of them and looked at Ares. "I learned what happened to your aunt."

Ares looked at her curiously, fury ready to be unleashed depending on what happened.

"You know what "Shaken Baby Syndrome" is?"

He nodded. "The child is shaken so hard their brain receives so much damage that they become braindead. I almost died that way once, that was one of the many times that Dumbledore brought Pomfrey to heal me. Rather than deal with me at all after that, the Dursley's just locked me in the cupboard."

"Monty's brother was left alone with her, and she wouldn't stop crying." Mal said softly. "I'm sure that you know where it goes from there."

Ares sighed as he nodded and looked back towards Pottermore. "So that's why what happened to Snape's mother really hit home for them."

Mal tightened her grip on his hand in comfort. "Yes."

"I swear, no one will get the chance to do that to our children."

Mal laid her head on his shoulder, smiling at the promise. They watched as their family said goodbye to Monty and Mia. They already said their goodbyes. This was the chance for everyone else. The couple decided to give them their privacy since most of the extended family grew up knowing Monty and Mia as parental figures.

Sirius, like Mal and Ares, had already said goodbye to the couple who more or less raised him. He was off to the side having a brief reunion with Walburga, Regulus, with an awake and cleansed adult Bellatrix.

"You did a good job." Ares assured her as he noticed which group she was staring at.

"Thank you." She said as she kept her eyes on the group. "Did she say anything to you?"

"Only that she'd understand if I left her in Azkaban to suffer." Ares sighed. "She completely expects me to do that."

"Will you?" Mal asked softly.

He sighed again. "Part of me wants to, but I forgave her the moment I realized she was broken and hated herself more than anyone else ever could." He looked down at her as Sirius and Walburga shared an embrace. "I think I will at least try to save her."

"If it helps." Mal said running her hand up and down his arm. "I think I might have an idea on how to."

"Any help would be appreciated." He said with great emphasis.

She didn't need him to tell her just why this was going to be difficult. "It's something to discuss with Sirius when we get back to the mortal realm. I think it can wait until then. We have to leave some surprises for later."

Before Ares could agree with her, there was a flash just behind them. Everyone who was going to be here today was already here. That included Julian, Satan, Gabriel, and Michael. They were standing separate, in their own group, having some kind of meeting of their own. So no one should have been arriving. When she looked to see who it was, Ares gripped Mal's hand and did his best to contain his fury.

Mal's stomach plummeted. She knew it wasn't over, not by a long shot. But she hadn't expected anything this soon. "Rida?"

Rida hadn't known where Mal and Ares were. Roger merely gave her the location and sent her on her way. She didn't expect to no longer be at the Purgatory's office building with its attached infirmary and access to the underworld, and from there, Hell. She naturally assumed there were no other locations. It was such a shock to her system that such a place could exist here.

It was something out of history, or a fairy tale, and floating on flat land in the vast expanse of space that Rida hadn't taken time to fully admire in all of her time in the afterlife. Her mind and purpose left her momentarily as she stared around.

When Mal called out to her, Rida looked at her, forgetting who she was. Then it slammed back with such a shock she actually jumped back to her senses. She remembered her mission, her destiny. Looking across the way, she saw Satan. It was further proof in her mind that the wonderous Sir Stephan was right. This was obviously Satan's palace, his seat of power away from all of the rest so he could plot terrible things. Thankfully, Mal hadn't entered the gates yet. She obviously just arrived, taking that poor innocent soul with her. Well, that was one soul that would be saved from sin if Rida had any say in the matter.

She didn't see the other Arc Angels; else she might have lost her courage.

"Oh, thank goodness I found you!" Rida gushed with genuine relief. "I feared I might be too late."

"Too late for what?" Mal asked curiously.

Rida stood before her with a sweet smile. "I realize I was completely wrong about you." This had Mal's eyebrows lifting. "I realize now things aren't as they seemed. I misjudged you. For that, I must apologize."

Mal spared a glance at Ares. It seemed as if she was being sincere. So far, the ring of truth resounded in every word that came out of Rida. It shocked Ares as well.

"I have here," Rida said pulling a contract from her pocket, "an updated contract for you. It's for your protection and would greatly benefit you."

Rida had Mal going right up to that point. Mal looked down at the contract with a sense of impending doom.

"But, I'm already under contract." Mal said dumbly. "I signed one with Gabriel weeks ago."

This gave Rida pause for a moment before her bright smile was back in place as she faced Mal. "As I said, this is an updated contract. Gabriel must have forgotten to mention it."

"I highly doubt that." Ares seethed. The ring of truth had completely left Rida's voice. She was blatantly lying now. "We can't trust you Rida, so forgive me if I refuse to take your word for it. I'll have Michael take a look at that contract you have there."

"I assure you there is no need to bother such a busy man." Rida assured Ares with that same bright smile that wasn't fooling anyone. "I've learned my lesson, and I really do have Mal's best interests at heart."

"MICHAEL! GABRIEL! SATAN!" Ares called. "GET YOUR LAZY ASSES OVER HERE! WE'VE GOT AN INTRUDER!"

Before Rida could even blink in shock, the three Arch Angels were standing before, all of them looking livid. Gabriel snatched the contract out of Rida's hands before she could refuse. Satan waved a hand and Rida was petrified, unable to even blink.

Michael stepped forward and hugged Mal and Ares tightly. He kissed Mal's forehead before ruffling Ares's head.

"Alright you two, this is it." Michael smiled at them. "I won't ask if you're ready, because I know this what you've been training for. All I can say is good luck, and we'll be watching closely. We may be able to send a sign to guide you on the right path." He grinned at Mal. "You'll be the one to see them."

"I'll keep an open mind and look out for them." Mal promised.

"Take care of her." Michael warned Ares.

"I will." Ares promised, before glancing at the frozen Rida. "So long as you deal with things here. Because if I come back, and I have to deal with it, I assure you things will not be pleasant."

Michael nodded. "So noted."

With that said, Michael took a step back and with a wave of his hand, both Mal and Ares vanished in a spiral of bright lights before disappearing entirely. He took a deep breath before looking at his brothers, currently pouring over the contract.

"Do I want to know?"

Gabriel merely thrust the offending document to Michael before making quick strides to Rida. He proceeded to backhand her across the face for all of his worth. Sending her flying through the cosmos before she was summoned right back.

"Do you have any idea what you almost did!?" Gabriel thundered.

"I was trying to save you!" Rida screamed. "She's destined to be the Devil's bride and ruin all of us!"

Satan gagged. "Oh, that's gross! That woman is like my niece! My baby sister! I could never be with her in the manner of which you speak. Further, Ares would kill me if I so much as looked at Mal in that way."

"I will not believe your lies!" Rida scoffed. "I see the truth of you!" She then looked at Gabriel and Michael with determination. "I will save you! Or I will die trying! It's my destiny!"

"No." Michael said, his tone dark and threatening. All of the cosmos dimming with his tone as he did. "You almost destroyed us all! Had you succeeded all of the cosmos' and worlds would have been lost! Our entire universe! Gone! I was willing to go easy on your because you were a new soul pulled into something bigger than your limited experience and small mind could handle. Now, I'm not so sure. You are confined to a room until we're able to deal with you! You make one more move, and your fate is sealed!"

With a blink, Rida was back at her room in the barracks, but it was a different barracks than Sir Stephan. She couldn't even get word to him that their master plan had failed. Mal was still with that mortal soul, and Satan had a palace! It was worse than they all feared. It would appear as if Michael and the other Arch Angels were in league with the Devil. None of them were safe! Not even her husband God! She had to get out and warn them all! She banged at the barrier, screaming and crying with all her might.

Nothing in her meager power was enough to bring down the barrier.

 **}TLCW{**

Robert had been watching everything from a viewing screen in his cubical. He knew immediately upon Rida's arrival that this plan wouldn't work. He saw the Arch Angels where she hadn't. When she was imprisoned, Robert went filtering through his desk. After several long moments of looking, he pulled up a golden coin. It was one favor from the Arch Angels. Could be used in any scenario, so long as it was within their power to grant.

Robert had been saving this for a life or death situation, or something dire such as that. He sat for a while, weighing the pros and cons of using this coin. So far, he'd gone undetected in his part of Stephan's plots, and Rida's. They could never trace a specific contract back to anyone angel in records. All of their power was the same, so it would take a lot of nitpicking, meaning a great deal of time, to be able to tell the difference between the individuals in Records. At that point, Robert would have had his memories wiped and gone back to the mortal realm as an innocent soul, thus, beyond their reach of punishment.

However, if he used this coin to spring Rida, and helped her with her "mission" some more, he would become a known entity. The question was, could he get laid before he did?

He flipped the coin. "Heads Rida, tails I get my memories wiped and my ass out of here before the shit hits the fan."

He flipped the coin a few times before letting it lay flat on his palm. He glanced at the results. "Guess, I better go then."

He got up and walked out of his cubical. He walked through the maze of the cubicles that was the Records Departments.

He came to rest as his destination, he double checked by flipping the coin once more, and with a sigh, opened the door.

"Robert!" Rida gushed when she saw him. "I'm so sorry! All of your hard work! Wasted because I failed!"

Robert let her berate herself a little longer. He stood there staring at her. She really was a beauty, and he wondered if her delusional faith would let her lower her guard enough for him to at least cop a feel. The more she spoke of religion, the more he was beginning to think that perhaps not. However, the coin flip landed him here, too late to turn back now.

"Maybe not." He said in a cautious tone.

Rida looked at him in shock. "You mean there's another way?"

He shrugged. "Possibly."

"Tell me! Tell me!" Rida's insistence was almost crazed.

"We know the world they're going to; people are already going back with the " _divine gift_ " of their memories." He tossed the coin in his hand. "Wouldn't be too hard to give a few of them their memories back as the Arch Angels get everything up and running. Especially if these people make life difficult for Mal and her lover."

Glee, pure unadulterated glee, spread across Rida's face before turning vicious in nature. "A perfect plan Robert. Perfect! Of course, we'd have to choose people who could do the most damage. But I'm not familiar with that world, are you?"

Robert shrugged. "Shouldn't be too hard to find the people who cause some trouble for them."

"Perhaps they'll kill Mal's mortal shell early. When they do, she'll come straight back to me, and I can finish what I started." Rida laughed wickedly.

Robert didn't correct her. He knew there was no chance of that. Because Mal was under contract with Gabriel, that's to whom she would go back to. Nowhere near Rida.

"Shall we go then?" He asked as he took a step back.

"But the barrier!" Rida insisted. "I can't break it! What hope do you have?"

"Oh, I have an idea." Robert said nonchalantly as he tossed the coin softly in his hand. "Step back."

Rida immediately obeyed.

Robert tossed the coin at the doorway and the barrier electrified before collapsing.

"What was that!?" Rida demanded.

"A favor from the Arch Angels." Robert answered. Then grabbed her wrist and began pulling her away quickly. "We have to leave before Michael realizes what's happened, or both of our necks will be on the chopping block."

"My hero!" Rida gushed. "You saved me!"

"Let's just hope we can accomplish something before we're inevitably caught." Robert muttered.

"Oh, we will!" Rida said excitedly. "My husband God will not let us fail. I knew he was watching over his true wife."

Robert rolled his eyes. No wonder he didn't stand a chance, she had deluded herself into believing she was married to God, and that she was a guy! Oh, he wished he could be there when she realized God was a woman. Still, that was for later.

He took her to the back of the Record's Department, where they had a few viewing rooms that weren't used anymore. He locked them away in one of them, watching the influx of souls returning to the world where Mal and Ares were going. Robert picked three at random to remember. Thinking that at least one of them would be in the position to cause some damage to the star couple. He didn't know this world any better than Rida.

His homeworld never had the Harry Potter stories, and he wasn't inclined to look them up once he was promoted to an angel in the afterlife. Something he'd regretted every day since, but that was for later. He knew Rida would never even consider it since it had witches and wizards. People and creatures that were either myth in her religion or needed put to death immediately.

Since the room had only one chair, once Robert's interference was finish. The memories granted, and the proper paperwork filed so it would take effect on the souls upon their waking, he sat in the chair and Rida willing sat in his lap to watch.

Rida waited as patiently as she could to see her revenge, no that was wrong, she thought, her destiny to take effect. She was so excited she was bouncing in Robert's lap, completely oblivious as to the effect it was having on him.

 **}TLCW{**

 _ **An:** So that's the end of chapter 10. _  
_I decided to give an overview of the past life that initially destroyed the souls that later became Ares and Mal._

 _Further, I thought I'd get some more background on Petunia. To explain why she did what she did._  
 _If Snape got it a bit of an explanation to his backstory, then I figured that Petunia deserved the same._

 _Give me about a week, at most, and I'll have chapter 11 posted for you. I think one part needs one more read through before I put it through the Grammarly app._

 _In any case, thanks for reading another chapter, and the next one is when life starts again._


	11. Chapter 11: Awakening Part One

_**AN:**_ _Over a hundred followers and favorites! Thank you so much, everyone! You have made my day! My month! My year! When saw the numbers surpassing 100 I started crying. My husband came to see what was wrong, and my dogs were panicking because I started crying for no reason. But upon realizing they were happy tears, dogs settled down, and my husband took a look at what was making me crying and then grinned and said he was proud of me._

 _Thank you so much, everyone! Thank you so much for supporting me, even if all you do is reading, you are still supporting me and coming back month after month, chapter after chapter.  
You guys have given me the best present in the world!_

 _Now that my birthday month is over, it's time to knuckle down and get back to work. I'm hoping that once school starts up again, you'll see a more influx of chapters. But, as I said, that's just the hope._

 **}TLCW{**

Sirius was still reeling from his talk with his mother and brother. Both explained to him that they had their eyes well and truly opened in regards to the Dark Lord during the final days of Regulus's life.

Walburga realized that he was killing many pureblood families, while it was merely the Death Eaters that killed muggles. She had begged Regulus to run away with her. She was planning on making amends with Sirius as well so they could all escape the madness that Britain had become. With the Potters being attacked and nearly wiped off the map, the logical conclusion was the Blacks would be next.

However, Voldemort asked to borrow Kreacher, and the little thing was never the same again. Regulus never came home shortly after that, and she wore his locket, not realizing what it actually was.

When Dumbledore visited her after a Wizengamot session, all of her revelations had been forgotten. She died of a broken heart long before her withered mind and broken body, corrupted by the Horcrux, could claim her. After coming to the afterlife, she learned the truth about everything, and she realized the bigger picture.

She realized what was actually at stake, and she sent Sirius back with all of her blessings and a vow that in her next life as Walburga Black, she was going to be the mother that Sirius and Regulus deserved. Her apologies and heartfelt sorrow burned into Sirius's memories.

After being asked to borrow Kreacher, and the little guys return home, Regulus realized the evil Voldemort did by creating Horcruxes. Upon that discovery, everything came into perspective for Regulus and he concluded that Sirius was right all along: just not in the way Dumbledore advocated.

Regulus believed that both sides of the war were wrong and that the middle road, the " _Grey Road_ " was the better option. He acted alone because he believed that Dumbledore had control over Sirius, just as Voldemort had control over his Death Eaters, but more absolute. Be it through natural devotion, or magical means, Regulus wasn't sure. But he wasn't going to take the chance that what he was about to do got back to either of the major factions fighting the war.

For all of their " _Leader of Light_ " and " _Dark Lord_ " nonsense, both had more information than was comfortable for Regulus, both had means of getting information, and when both were desperate for it, no one was safe. Despite being on opposite sides of the spectrum, Dumbledore and Voldemort were eerily similar.

Sirius was well and truly ashamed at how right Regulus was. As well as ashamed that he hadn't seen it himself. Potions or no.

Sirius didn't have to explain the past lives he lived because Regulus and Walburga had already seen them. Just as they had seen the lives Ares, formerly Harry, had lived. When Mal permitted to have her lives viewed, the mother and son saw those lives as well. After viewing the younger couples lives, whatever negative thoughts or feelings remained towards the nonmagical populations vanished without a trace. Regulus and Walburga learned through those lives that evil lurked in all shapes and forms, it wasn't just limited to the Wizarding world.

Both wished beyond words could express that they could go back and help in whatever way was possible. However, Regulus had been dead for many years, and if Walburga were alive, her state of mind and being would be far too deteriorated. There was no recovery for her. She would be going back to a husk, riddled with pain and madness, for which there was only the option of a quick and painless death. So with heavy hearts, both were forced to merely express their regrets to Sirius, and offer their hope, their encouragement, but most of all, their never-ending love and acceptance in him and the man he had become.

They were offered a brief moment in time before Sirius had to leave for the mortal realm again, and they made the most of what time they were given, both with Sirius, and Bellatrix. More so with Sirius.

Sirius closed his eyes, still holding his brother and mother. Basking in love and warmth that was being shown to him. When he opened his eyes again, he was laying on his stomach in his animagus form, curled as tightly together as he could manage to retain body heat in this cold, in the filthy cell of Azkaban. The assault of the putrid smells, feeling how weak his body was, and the feeling of utter despair that saturated the air brought back all of the terrible memories of this place.

More so, he realized just how weak he was. A few seconds ago, moving had been effortless, now, movement was rather difficult, and made him dizzy.

Still, he had a job to do, and his current state of being wasn't going to stop him from accomplishing his tasks. He laid there for a long time, going over his memories to see if anything had changed from the memories he already had. He was relieved to find they matched completely. He knew that some of the others coming back wouldn't have that luxury, and this extra time to go over their memories would be needed.

When Sirius heard the approach of the guards, he knew it was the delivery of the only meal a day the prisoners got while in this place. If they were able to eat at all. The reason why so many wasted away and became nothing but skin and bone was not only the fault of the Dementors but was because the Guards would often forget to feed the prisoners for days at a time. There were even a series of a week or two before meals were remembered and distributed. It was more common than it should be.

The guards also liked to beat up on some of the prisoners. It was usually the former Aurors who were assigned here to keep them off the streets because of their past conduct. They were furious that their "great talent" was limited to these dark walls and almost catatonic prisoners.

The meal delay was often the prelude to several beatings. Usually, the two weeks without food led to several beat downs in the maximum-security wing. Emotionally and mentally beaten down by just being in Azkaban, as well as the Dementors, weakened even the best of people; Sirius was proof of that. Further weakened by lack of food made the beat downs that came rather one-sided. Not even Rabastion Lestrange, the Death Eaters best physical fighter was a match for those guards in his current state of being when they came for their "fun".

If the warden or the better guards knew about this, they never said or did anything about it. Sirius made a mental note to store all of those memories in a special place in his mindscape. Given that Sirius was in the maximum-security wing, witness to several beat downs, as well as being one of the victims on several occasions, there were plenty of memories. He planned to expose those bastards once and for all. It even might be the key to helping a few people get a second chance.

Sirius waited until they were on the floor, and several cells down from his own before changing from a dog back into a man. It was more difficult than it should have been, and a great deal more painful. That could only happen if bones were broken and healed wrong. Sirius was sporting several fractured ribs at the moment. Leftover from his beat down two weeks prior.

The guards today dropped off his food, thankfully, without a beating, and moved onto the next cell.

When the prisoners didn't immediately jump for the food like the starving mad inmates they were, the Guards would check to see if the inmate was still alive and breathing. Sometimes, the cell held no living occupant, and there was cleanup ordered for that cell.

It was this check for the living or dead that often led to the beat downs if the Guards didn't come in with specific targets. The last beat down Sirius had was because his hip was dislocated, and he had just managed to change back when the Guards were at his door, narrowly missing being caught in his as of yet undiscovered animagus form. Assuming that the Mass Murder Sirius Black might, at last, be dead, the Guards came in to check. Upon finding he was alive and that they wouldn't be receiving a payday from someone, they began to beat him. Dropped his food, then left. Going to beat on their specific target for the day, Rookwood.

Sirius jumped at the food as soon as it hit the floor and began to scarf down the meager food, not tasting it, as there wasn't much taste to the scraps that could barely be considered food. At least it was semi filling. His actions meant the Guards just moved on.

After the guards made their rounds and the food was delivered for the first time in days, and it would most likely be days till there was another delivery of food, they left that floor and Sirius was able to change back into Padfoot. Surprising the wizard that there were no beatings to be had today. He didn't get a good look at the Guards, but they were likely the good ones who delivered the food this time around. The good ones never issued a beating, never really said a word.

Laying back, Sirius couldn't deny that some of the occupants in here actually deserved the treatment they got. Such as Rookwood and the Lestrange brothers. However, this was against all protocol, it was against basic human decency; Sirius was sure many would be conflicted about this issue. He hoped that it would cause enough of a shift to occur to allow the review of a few cases, such as Bella, in particular.

Sirius eventually closed his eyes and rested. He had a long night ahead of him, and he needed as much rest as he could get this place, and enough luck from the heavens to accomplish this third escape. At least in the previous lives, his body had somewhat healed when he made his escape attempt.

When he opened his eyes between his naps, he looked at the rare window across from his cell, keeping an eye on the color of the sky. He needed the right time; the hard part was waiting for it. He opened his eyes for a fourth time to find the sky was dark, and he knew it was almost time. This time, he stayed awake so as not to miss his chance.

He laid as still as he could manage while he waited. He waited till there was no sound anywhere near him. Except for the haggard breathing of other inmates and whispers that were there yet you couldn't quite make out what was being said. It always came as a terrifying shock to realize that it was the Dementors, and they were communicating with each other.

It was a rare occasion indeed, as the Guards, several floors below, who could be heard making a ruckus at any time of day, were silent. Upon realizing that there was silence from below, did he quietly rise and slip through the bars of his cell.

Before Azkaban, Padfoot was too big to do that. He knew once he got back to the best health for his body, Padfoot wouldn't be able to do that again. So that ruled out coming back here to sneak Bellatrix out. Before turning to his left where the stairs descended to the lower levels, he veered right and went to Bella's cell.

He slipped through the bars just as easily into that cell. He knew he couldn't take her with him. Right now, he was too weak, and he would barely be able to make the trip himself. She was also another victim of the beatings two weeks prior; she was also in much worse condition than he was. If she tried to swim through the sea tonight, she would drown, and he would drown trying to save her. Best to not bite off more than he could chew.

Sirius was internally gawking at just how much he had changed over those two lifetimes, being able to remember them, and his changes from this afterlife. Before, and likely still would without his memories and gained knowledge, he would have grabbed Bella, chances and fate be damned, and escaped with her. Resulting in the previously stated fact that they would both drown.

Furthermore, she was still under contract to Rodolphus and the control of Voldemort. He needed that marriage contract destroyed before having a Merlin's chance at saving her. They would work on getting rid of the Dark Mark after that.

That was if she was even able to be saved. Before he could make any plans to rescue her, and he wanted to rescue her knowing what he did, cautiously making plans regardless, he needed to be sure that Bella had in fact changed enough to allow redemption. Even with the contract to the Lestrange's still in place.

She was laying on the cot sleeping, her breathing very uneven as he knew his own was. He kept himself against the cell door, and away from her. He knew she had come back with no memories, but her soul was whole once more. According to Mal, there was a very good chance that the guilt she carried in the afterlife would manifest even if she was still under contract. Her mind was essentially given back to her, so there would a level of sanity.

How much with the contract still in effect, Mal wasn't sure, but it should be evident enough upon looking at her.

When Bellatrix opened her eyes and looked at him, he saw the little girl who Mal helped heal. He nodded his head and backed back out of the cell. He turned and began to descend the stairs. He knew the old Bellatrix would be seething, begging to join, and when he didn't help her, she would scream to alter the guards that there was an escapee. As punishment for daring to escape and not take her with him.

His proof that Bellatrix was changed, was her silence.

He made it all the way outside, and still no one, so he kept his pace. Swimming across the icy sea to the land on the other side. He was sure he would look back on this night and have no bloody idea how in the hell he'd managed it. Though, looking back on this night, he was sure he could argue that he had the Arch Angels looking after him during this escape. It was the only thing that made sense.

He'd escaped earlier this time around. The air was still colder, making the water freezing, and turbulent. Not ideal conditions for escaping or for traveling with his body in the condition it was. The last time, summer had been in full swing the last time. The air and the water were warmer, the water was also a bit calmer. Making the escape feel more like a well-deserved bath. It had been around July that his escape was last made. Because Ares, as Harry back then, spent his birthday and the all of August in Diagon Alley before the new term started in September. It took Sirius all that time to get from Surrey to the Scottish Highlands.

Escaping now meant Hogwarts was still in session, and it was Sirius's hope he could get to Surrey before Ares got out of school for the season. The less time Ares spent with those magic hating waste of breath muggle Dursleys, the better.

There would no doubt be consequences for escaping much earlier than he had originally, but he didn't care. His godson needed him, his family needed him, and he wasn't going to wait around for the original date of his break out.

The whole point of coming back was about making changes.

What better way to start than this?

 **}TLCW{**

The first thing Remus was aware of, were the smells of everything around him. Not unusual for a werewolf but definitely unusual to a person who had recently been deceased and couldn't smell anything. Whatever they thought they smelt in the afterlife was a fabrication. There was no smell there. Remus said nothing about that and just let the others have their imaginings.

Now, however, he could smell the wet earth he was laying on, the many trees native to Romania, and the promise of rain to come. It was similar weather to the British Isles, but with vaster and denser forests. Perhaps that's why he came here in the first place, he mused as he simply looked around the little clearing that currently doubled as his home for the moment.

In this life, looking through his memories, he saw, that was part of it, but his trip here all started on the orders of Dumbledore to get in touch with the werewolf population. Before Voldemort returned and beat them to it. Dumbledore wanted to get as many "dark creatures" on the "light side" before the Dark Lord's inevitable return.

Of course, Remus succeeded in making contact, but he wasn't going to tell Dumbledore that fact, just as he hadn't told Dumbledore anything about his past stays here either. Dumbledore, in his infinite wisdom, just assumed the werewolves had well and truly cemented themselves in the dark. As such, they were simply waiting for their Master's resurrection to make their triumphant return to Britain.

What Dumbledore, matter of fact what all of the magical public in Britain couldn't fathom was the sanctuary werewolves found outside of the British Isles. The packs here, for instance, were peaceful unless hunted. There were equal rights and protective statues here, and in many other countries as well.

Why would the werewolf population leave their beautiful, peaceful homes and lives, for Wizarding Britain? A place where they could legally be killed for simply being what they are, and kept from owning homes or decent paying jobs?

Such was the response whenever the topic of returning to Britain came up when others sought out the packs for similar reasons.

Remus wasn't even going to bother the local packs with Dumbledore's pitiful offer. He never did with any of the "requests" of a similar nature that Dumbledore sent him on. Remus would go, and make contact with the packs sure, he would spend time with them, and learn more about his people every time. Each pack embraces different aspects of what seemed to be a vast culture, much like the Native Americans in the US. They were a proud people, and kept traditions alive for centuries.

It was truly a sight to behold.

If Remus had been stupid enough, blinded by Dumbledore's "light", in this life as he had in the past lives, he would have seen himself thrown out of every territory belonging to the packs around the globe. No respectable pack would never accept an offer made by someone like Dumbledore, and Dumbledore was deluding himself if he thought even for a moment that the werewolves would ever consider moving to Wizarding Britain in its current political state. Especially in the cases of those who had lived there before, and grew up with the racism and bigotry hurled at them every day of their lives.

The werewolves of the here and now would laugh at both Dumbledore's and Voldemort's offers considerably. That is if they were in a good mood. Most likely, as Remus concluded earlier, they would be shot down rather harshly and thrown out of the pack's territory. And if the invading wizards dared attack the packs in revenge for declining both "generous" wizards, then heaven help them because no Government in the rest of Europe, or the MACUSA, would persecute the packs. They would be seen as doing exactly what they were, defending their homes and territory. Hell, given the rest of the world's views on Dumbledore and Voldemort, the packs would probably be given awards!

These were the werewolves Mal changed with her wish. She had changed so much with just a handful of words, and the more Remus reviewed his memories, the more and more he was tempted, his mate and Ares be damned, to kiss that wingless angel full on the mouth.

Purely as a show of his, and the rest of the world's werewolves, gratitude. Because if they knew what he did, they would drop to the ground and worship her like he was already so tempted to. What she had given him, and so many others, was such a stark contrast to what Remus was used to. Best of all, this peaceful life was all most werewolves had ever known.

If these were the werewolves before Mal's wish, they would have jumped on the Voldemort train within seconds. Without Voldemort even making any offers to gain their aid. All the Dark Lord would have to do would be to show up, or have an emissary show up, and the packs would follow. All the while spitting on Dumbledore's previous offers over the years, then pissing on his grave after his inevitable demise.

Remus lifted his head as he finished going over his new memories, as soothing song filling the air. There was only one creature to produce this type of music; it was the music of a Phoenix. With a flash of fire, there was the famous golden and red bird Fawkes that Dumbledore had somehow managed to claim as a familiar. A letter was currently tied to this magnificent bird's leg. Remus could see Fawkes was utterly pissed off at playing messenger, and the music reflected that. That a great Phoenix was reduced to this for a manipulative old goat raping bastard.

Remus threw his head back and laughed as best as he could in his wolf form. Knowing that those thoughts came from Fawkes.

He changed into a man. His first of many controlled, and utterly painless, shifts from animal to man. He grinned, despite being naked in the middle of a forest, and took the letter as he gave Fawkes a friendly scratch: the poor creature needed some appreciation right now, even if it was just an affectionate petting. Remus was grateful that it was summer, otherwise, he would have frozen his balls off.

He read the letter, but he was already sure he knew what it said.

 _Remus, my old friend._

 _I hope this finds you well, though I know the plight you suffer, and I'm sure you are struggling, as always. I do wish you would turn to me more often for help, you know you've but to ask._

 _As for me, I'm afraid I find myself in that predictable end of the year situation once again. I'm in need of, yet another, DADA professor for next term. I had such high hopes for Lockhart, he was looking like a strong candidate to take next year's post! Then the accident, I was so disappointed to learn his memories could never be recovered, but I digress. The search begins._

 _You were, of course, my first thought all of these years when the position inevitably opened up, there is surely no one better suited than yourself, you have the makings of an amazing professor, better than myself I dare say. Alas though, I am afraid that our society is not as much of a forward thinker as I am, and have denied my every attempt to give you the placement you so rightly deserve._

 _Perhaps, given the situation Wizarding Britain finds itself recently, this is the time that I will finally be able to convince the Wizengamot to allow you the position; on a trial basis, of course. We wouldn't want to press our luck and be seen as trying push through too much too soon for the more, fanatical factions of our society, shall we say, hm?_

 _Moving on, how have things progressed with that favor I asked you some months back? I've yet to hear anything and am most eager for whatever news you have to impart._

 _We'll have to talk about it over tea one afternoon, soon. As much as I would like you to stay where you all, and push forward, I'm afraid I must ask you to return to Britain post-haste and must take all priority._

 _Remember I previously said the "current situation Wizarding Britain finds itself recently"? Well, something rather disturbing has happened:_

 _Sirius Black has escaped Azkaban._

 _No reason was given, no message was left behind, there was no warning he was even considering this._

 _It has caused utter chaos in the Ministry and the DLME, as I'm sure you can imagine. The first-ever escaped convict in Wizarding Britain's history! The sheer scandal of it all has our poor Minister Cornelius Fudge just out of his mind. He is panicking, and as always, when he panics, he ignores my council and turns to others for advice. I have certainly tried to keep him from listening to the likes of Malfoy, but I could use some, reinforcements shall we say?_

 _We need you to return to us._

_I_ _need you to return to us._

 _You were the one who knew Sirius the best; next to James that is – may he rest in peace-, and for obvious reasons we cannot call on poor Peter to aid us. You alone can offer a unique insight into Black's thinking that we here are not able to think of. I'm sure of it._

 _If you help us with the capture of him, I'm sure the Ministry will be more than tolerant of you and your, delicate condition, shall we say? At the very least, this will allow us the chance to get you posted as the DADA professor at Hogwarts._

 _On that regard, I do have some rather good news to impart; Now is the time my friend._

 _I know that I argued against you seeing him in the past, and I had many reasons for doing so, but I feel our young Harry could use an ally right now. One who knew his father and give him the best mental image of the man his father was. All he's heard for the last two years have been Severus's rants; it would do him well to hear good stories about his father._

 _I know you warned me this would happen, and I do apologize Remus. You were right. I should have listened to your council back then. However, there is nothing we can do about the past, only make choices in the present to change our future._

 _Given the times we find ourselves in, and the last two years our young Harry has endured, you would be best suited to protect the boy; without him realizing this, obviously. I would like to keep this unpleasantness from him for as long as I can. The poor boy has suffered enough on this great earth without knowing that his Godfather is the one who painted the target on the Potter's back that night. Leaving our boy an orphan, and is currently after him as well._

 _I'm afraid this would break his heart, causing him to seek revenge, or he might attempt to save Sirius; believing the man's innocent despite all evidence against that statement! I know I've stood firm in the regard that everyone deserves a second chance, but Sirius Black is beyond saving. That much I believe._

 _Harry could, and would, get himself seriously injured, or worse, during the struggle to save his unrepentant Godfather. This cannot be allowed to happen. We cannot allow Sirius to get anywhere near our boy, Remus!_

 _How much more will Sirius take from us before he is finally stopped? We absolutely cannot permit this evil to further plague our society!_

 _That being said, if you would rather remain where you are, and finish with what I asked of you, I'll support whatever decision you make. Regardless of everything stated before, it is an important job. I just thought you would like to know the situation, and thought you would have preferred the time be spent around our boy instead of creatures._

 _Of course, if you do decide to return to Britain, however, I've taken the liberty and written a letter of protection for you. This should see you returning relatively safely and any pelt hunters staying far away from you during your stay here._

 _I trust that you will make the right decision in the end, my boy._

 _Your friend,_

 _Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

 _Order of Merlin; first-class, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards_

As Remus folded the letter back up, he wondered just who that old man was fooling with that letter. And that protection note was a joke at best. Dumbledore had to know it only held power in Britain, as the rest of the world's stand against pelt hunters was well documented.

Those people were exactly as the name described, werewolf hunters for sport and skinned the pelts off before the werewolf was completely dead, which resulted in the body changing back.

Remus laughed with his whole being, thoroughly amused by everything, before he changed back into a large, dark grey wolf. He howled his goodbyes to the nearby pack before taking off towards the direction of home.

Oh, Dumbledore would get Remus back in England for sure, but it wasn't to a manipulative old man's presence he ran towards. He only had one destination in mind, and it was a much more appealing one.

Tonks was calling him home, and he couldn't wait to wrap his arms around her and snog her senseless.

Then they would deal with how he should approach the old man. If he did at all.

 **}TLCW{**

Nymphadora Tonks came to in the middle of the DMLE bullpen.

It wasn't as if she'd dozed off; that wasn't safe to do in the Ministry even in her first two lives. No, it was as simple as she closed her eyes, ignorant to the reality of the world; then opened them with two different lifetimes worth of memories, her stay at Pottermore in the afterlife and all of the extra knowledge they were allowed.

Unfortunately, now wasn't the time or the place to go through and compare and contrast the difference between those two lives and this one. The bullpen, usually hosting at least a few bodies depending on the shift, was now crowded with what seemed to be every Auror in the department. Gathered in respect, or at least just to watch, as Moody announced his retirement.

Despite the Sirius Black breakout, Moody seemed hellbent on getting his arse out of there. So after two simple words " _I'm retiring_.", he promptly turned, then disappeared into Amelia's office with her. No doubt where they were working on the paperwork. Tonks had no worries in that regard, she knew Amelia would give the old man a good shake.

The remaining Auror force were of two minds, and only two minds. Those who knew that the Auror department had turned into a joke, and knew Moody's retirement would leave them in worse conditions. And those who were hot-headed and thought they could do the job better than the old man could. Happy to see him leave, knowing there was a good chance now that their more unsavory behavior and activities wouldn't be caught. Unfortunately, the first group was far outnumbered by the second.

As if to prove that point, no sooner had Moody disappeared into Amelia's office when the other male Auror's began either to chuckle darkly and sneer in her direction. This was normal treatment even in the previous two lives. This life, however, was by far the worst of them all. This time, it wasn't just the underhanded comments or the derogatory remarks when they were alone, or under their breath after the brass left the room. This time, they were bolder and louder.

"Hey there, sweetheart!" Dawlish said as he smacked her ass, "Have you had a chance to think about that discussion we had earlier today?"

Tonks merely narrowed her eyes at him, but otherwise remained silent.

"Come on!" Dawlish coaxed in a falsely sweet tone. Any idiot could recognize the threat underneath. "Don't be a party pooper, we're going to be working together for a long time now. Scrimgeour just granted my request in the shift change. We're going to be partners now. We don't get off on the wrong foot now do we?"

Again, Tonks said nothing. Merely kept her eyes narrowed at him.

Dawlish continued, even if someone had tried to stop him, he had much to say and wasn't going to stop.

"I mean, it's not like I'm not asking you to cast an unforgivable, dollface, I just want you to consider, well, wearing something more _appropriate_ when we're on patrols together, if you catch my drift. You do know you can increase that bust size a little as well, right? I mean, you're not fooling anyone with those little buds sweet cheeks. I happen to know for a fact, that any woman born with that small of a bosom wouldn't keep herself that small if she had the ability to increase its size."

If anyone noticed that Tonks's hands had balled into tight and rigid fists, they didn't say a word.

"Just be natural with us, that's all I'm asking, and we'll get along great." Dawlish grinned menacingly. "I'll treat you to a couple of drinks after our shifts." Then Dawlish lowered his voice and leaned in real close. "Of course, whatever happens after that is our business. That is, between us, and whoever else we might _invite_ , of course."

Tonks didn't need those last words to know what this scum was planning. The lust and greed in his eyes told Tonks exactly what the situation was here. The men surrounding Dawlish, all wore matching grins. She was being threatened, no that was wrong; she was blatantly being told that she was going to be raped in the future. As far as they were concerned, she had two options; accept this and be their toy, or fight and they would punish her for it.

With the mention of Scrimgeour, she knew he was either in on the take, or being his usual self. And that would be to believe the men first, and not even give the women a chance to defend themselves, or say their version of it. What mattered to Scrimgeour was results, and if you were a man turning in the results he wanted, you went far with Scrimgeour. If you were a woman, Scrimgeour would try to push it all on the male partner of the team. However, Amelia put a stop to that and forced Scrimgeour to acknowledge the women for the outstanding Aurors that they were. Needless to say, this left Scrimgeour even more bitter towards women.

Scrimgeour didn't help in the previous lives, and she wouldn't be surprised if he was in the know about what was truly going on in this life.

It was too bad that Shacklebolt and the other decent Aurors weren't in the bullpen at that moment. Scrimgeour's orders or not, Dawlish would have been taken down a peg. As it was, all of the best people, the good people, the ones Amelia could trust to do the job as required and not take matters into their own hands, (or worse, deliver Black to the Death Eaters still roaming free), were on the special task force looking for the escaped Black.

Tonks knew if she asked, Shacklebolt would grab her up immediately, and no arguments would be had. In fact, in the past, that's exactly what happened. Tonks went to Amelia with the offer to help the special task force with her abilities, and Tonks was immediately reassigned from Scrimgeour's command to Shacklebolt's. Neither woman was going to pretend it was only because of Tonks' request that she was transferred, but they also never spoke of the real reason why Tonks was even making the request.

Twice before, Tonks had done this and was welcomed under Shacklebolt's command and protection. Allowing him to transfer out a rather annoying Auror working under him to accommodate Tonks. Twice before, that was the path Tonks walked.

Twice before, and it saw her ending up dead.

Tonks looked around the bullpen, she never did that before when Dawlish approached her, though he never said anything as bold as that in lifetimes she'd already lived. Tonks paid special attention to the other women in the room. While they may not have been nearby anymore, it was obvious they could still hear what was going on. They looked at her with either sympathy or smug looks that said: " _serves you right!_ ".

The women with sympathy, none of them lifted a hand, or a voice in her defense, lest it be them on the end of this treatment. The smug women were waiting for her to get "broken in". Whether they were Death Eater sympathizers or simply bitter women who wanted to see the metamorphimagus taken down a peg, Tonks couldn't tell, and honestly, couldn't care.

Armed with all of that in her head, she turned and looked back at Dawlish. In the two times before, she merely walked past him to Amelia's office, waited for Moody to leave before she made her request.

Changes had already begun. Before, Moody retired before the Sirius Black escape. This time, Sirius escaped much earlier. Not that Tonks was surprised. He obviously got his memories back before she did. With that in mind, Tonks decided to make drastic changes in her life as well.

Tonks, for the first time, looked Dawlish and in the eye and smiled sweetly. "My what a generous offer you're making me."

Dawlish and his friends looked shocked for a moment before grinning hungrily at her. "I thought so as well, why don't we get out of here? We don't have our first shift until this evening."

"That is a tempting offer." Tonks said talking a step forward, resting a hand against his cheek, her body practically touching his. "But I've got a better idea!"

Dawlish was still grinning as Tonks focused a thin layer of magic above her knee, and rammed it into the offending man's constricted ball sack and his hardened member. Before anyone could react to what she just did, or Dawlish recovered from that blow, she raised her fisted hand and brought it smashing down onto his face.

From start to finish, it took three seconds. Tonks was fast, strong, and physically more powerful than Dawlish in both lives before this. She could have done this to him and achieved the same results before this life. And that was with the limiters Dumbles placed on her core.

It wasn't mentioned to Ares, but it would appear Dumbles had a habit of blocking the powers of a lot of people. Especially if they were proving at a young age that they would be more powerful than Dumbles was.

Dawlish was well and truly taken down. He was on the floor, his legs crossed, a hand cupping his abused crotch, and his face quickly bruising and bloody, with a few teeth knocked loose, one solitary tooth fell out of his mouth as he hit the floor.

As everyone else was still suffering from the shock, Tonks turned and headed straight to Amelia's office. So that by the time they recovered, she'd already be with the top brass. Not even Scrimgeour could help Dawlish now.

Tonks didn't bother knocking, just burst right in, slammed the door behind her, and glared at the two Aurors in the room. "I quit!"

Two words, but they caused the equivalent of bedlam in the office.

"What!?" Amelia and Moody shouted.

"I was just told by Dawlish that Scrimgeour approved my transfer to his command, and to be Dawlish's partner. Dawlish then, in the middle of the bullpen, with witnesses, boldly told me that I was to obey his every command, dress like a tart, and let him and his buddies rape me all they wanted. There were two options for me in his logic, accept it and be their toy, or they'd break me in till I didn't have an ounce of self-worth left to fight them off. He implied that Scrimgeour would let them do it! That he would back them all the way!" Tonks said nearly yelling. She then took a breath and stated more calmly. "So I smashed his broomstick and bludgers in before I punched his lights out."

Moody, about fell over laughing.

Amelia jumped to her feet and came around her desk, locking the door and activating all the privacy wards and charms she could think of and had available.

With the room thoroughly sealed shut, and no interruptions impending, Amelia turned and regarded Tonks. "I take it you have proof?"

Tonks took her wand, withdrew a copy of the memory and gave it to Amelia. A house-elf delivered a pensive when Amelia called for it, rather than stick their faces in, Amelia activated the ruins that allowed the memory to play for the room.

When it was all said and done, Amelia's head came forward to rest within her hand. "Well, that explains your outburst, Auror Tonks." Amelia was pissed off, and it was evident on her features. Though that fury wasn't aimed at Tonks. "Obviously, you will be filing a complaint, and demanding a transfer to someone else's command. Shacklebolt has been wanting to get rid of Ottis Talpin for ages, this will allow him to get the Auror he's been begging for and gets Talpin out of the Special Taskforce. He might be experienced, but Shacklebolt is right that he doesn't follow orders, has a big head, and puts the blames on his failings on his team members. Even if the person accusing him saw him do it too."

Amelia drummed her fingers on her desk. "What has the DMLE come to these days? Seriously?" She shook her head and looked back at Tonks. "I'll personally see to it that you are not given so much as a verbal reprimand in this, and Dawlish is properly punished. Since I can't fire any Aurors during a crisis, the shores of Azkaban are calling his name, have been for a while."

Tonks sighed, unable to hold her anger at her once and future friend. Hopefully family member. "I appreciate that I do, but I must apologize ma'am."

"Whatever in the world for?" Amelia asked bewildered.

Moody glared at her with his good eye, the magical eye looking at the door past Tonks' right.

Tonks took a bracing breath. "I realize you're about to stick your neck out for me, and I realize the opportunities provided with me transferring to Shacklebolt's command effect of immediately, but I can't."

This shocked Amelia and Moody.

"There are two main reasons why I must decline." Tonks continued holding up her fingers as she listed them off. "One, given my mother's appointment to the Black Regency, it's wildly known and accepted fact that I am now a daughter of the Black family. I will confirm this here, that yes, I am. The previous Lord Black accepted us back into the family so he could appoint my mother his regent upon his death. Appointing me onto the task force to hunt down the wayward member of my family is suspect at the very least, but in truth, it's a conflict of interest, and not a scandal the dark families would allow you to recover from Madam Director.

"Even with the dark families bribing Aurors, or using their family members on and off the task force, we have no proof. However, with my mother sitting as Regent, that's enough proof for the dark families to call your judgment into question. No other facts will be considered, only my family's connection."

Amelia slumped back, her mouth falling open. It wasn't that she had forgotten all of this, Tonks knew, it was simply that Amelia didn't think about the situation from that perspective.

"And for two," Tonks sighed, as she spared a glance at Moody, before looking back at Amelia. "With Moody retiring, all of the scum currently employed in this department are in line to assault me. Let's not play the fool and not pretend that we don't know exactly what they are planning for me. We have the proof in that memory." Tonks gestured to the pensive. "Short of removing them by force, and as you said, this is a time of crisis, further they are all supported by one member of the Wizengamot or related to one, I don't see that changing. The Wizengamot will not allow it. All my staying here would accomplish would be myself in the cell my cousin once occupied. Given my reaction to a verbal confrontation, you know damn good and well that I will not allow that scum to touch me without a fight."

Tonks lowered her hand as she looked at two of the people she'd respected most in her previous lives, and still held in high regard now. "Now, I'll freely admit, I've had to endure the worse treatment in Hogwarts, and during my training in the Auror corps, until Moody took me under his wing. I have tough skin, and Moody would be the first to tell as much. Having said that, I'm sorry, but I can't spend the rest of my life dealing with this. I don't want to go to work every day wondering which one of my coworkers is going to try to steal credit for my work or attempt to get me into a fight to get me written up.

"I don't want to go on patrols constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure that my partner isn't going to A - kidnap me, B - curse me in the back in order to accomplish A or worse, or C - rape me repeatedly. Hell Merlin No! I will not live like this! The fact that we are having this conversation because we know the type of scum that works here, and yet we can't do anything about it, should say just how far our government and society has fallen here in Britain. How the hell are we supposed to be able to protect the public when our department can't even trust each other?"

Neither Moody or Amelia had an answer for that. It was a question they had been asking themselves for years as well. They both knew that Tonks was right, and they had slowly been whittling down the scum – as Tonks called them – and assigning them to Azkaban. The reasoning was two-fold, to get the volatile people off the street, and get better working conditions within the Department.

Tonks was also right in the fact that Amelia couldn't fire them. Didn't matter if they had double the write-ups as the accuser unless Amelia had these witches and wizards on using an unforgivable, there was no way the Wizengamot would allow Amelia to fire them. Even the light side was against it because that meant if any of their family members on the force proved inadequate, then they would be next.

As good as a plan as it seemed when they started, for each Auror they sent out to the lonely island for guard duty, it seemed three more just like them popped up. Each new circle being just as bad, if not worse, then the ones Moody and Amelia already dealt with. They also knew that this plan wasn't perfect, and it would likely come back to bite them on their arses one day. But if they had to choose between the criminals in the cells of Azkaban, versus the innocent civilians, they'd make the same choices they had been making from the beginning without a second thought.

"Anything else lass?" Moody grumbled. Still keeping an eye on the situation out in the bullpen.

Tonks shrugged. "To be honest, I never wanted this job to begin with."

Moody closed his good eye for a brief moment, it was all the emotion he could afford to show. He suspected when Tonks shouted, she quit, she never would have said those words just to get attention. If she said them, she meant them. He knew before viewing the memory that the DMLE was fixing to lose a promising recruit and a person who could have helped their society for the better.

"What did you want Tonks?" Amelia asked softly, genuinely curious.

"I honestly couldn't tell you what I want for my life." Tonks shook her head. "The more I thought about it in the past, I kept thinking along the lines of following my parents. An attorney like my father, or being a healer like my mother maybe."

That wasn't actually a lie, she could give them some truth. She had thought those things in the first life. Now, she knew her future would be much different, but that was for later. Right now, she needed to plant a seed to sow discord. It was too easy, and the fact that it was one hundred percent the truth made it all the better.

"Dumbledore pushed me towards this carrier." Tonks admitted. "From the moment I began to choose my electives, I was told I didn't qualify for this or that class. I honestly wanted to study Runes more, I wanted to study potions more extensively, as well as magical creatures. But I was forbidden from doing too much of one or the other while in Hogwarts. Now I love Madame Sprout, she tried, she really did, but Dumbledore also made sure that all of my professors "knew" that I was simply destined for the DMLE."

Moody's good eye and his magical eye were both seeing red. Amelia wasn't far from that colored vision as well.

"From my third year on, everything was organized around my one day becoming an Auror, whether I wanted that or not. My course load was such that my OWLS and NEWTS results would only allow this as my career. Or the DADA position at Hogwarts, which given the history of them, is a not something I would choose in my right state of mind." Tonks breathed a sigh of relief. It was good to finally get this off her chest. She sat in the other vacant chair, sitting with the two older magicals in companionship. "I was never consulted about what I wanted. Anytime I expressed interest in something else, Dumbledore would, in his infinite wisdom, "put" me, back on the "right track". What I'm saying is, I need time, time to figure out what I want out of my life, and I can't do that while working here, especially under these conditions."

Amelia's monocle fell and laid to rest at the end of the chain just above her bosom. Her hand coming up to massage the bridge of her nose. She couldn't fault the girl for feeling that way. There were many days she wanted to quit for the exact same reason. Checking her food and drinks for potions had become such a routine thing in her life now she doubted she would be able to quit once she was retired. She wasn't Moody paranoid, but she wasn't naïve either.

Moody looked positively livid. He spent all that time training a recruit that was worthy of replacing him. Just one of Tonks was worth ten of the blasted dunderheads out in that bullpen. Now he didn't fault the lass, nor did he consider his time wasted. After all, it wasn't just pressure they were throwing at her; it was straight-up harassment with promises of rape, or worse if she didn't bend over obediently.

He didn't need to be convinced that her fears were founded. He didn't even need the memory she provided either. He had no proof, mere speculations on his part, but he knew several promising female Aurors quit in the past because of the same treatment, and a few because the bloody bastards went through with their promised implied actions. Those women, however, were obliviated of their time in the Aurors corps. This was something that happened before and during his time as an Auror. If he hadn't taken Amelia, Alice, and Lily by some extent under his wing, the same would have happened to them, regardless of their male protectors, and sometimes to spite them as well.

It sickened him that rape was a form of fun for the Death Eaters and their sympathizers. The fact that they used it as torture and revenge was bad enough, but to truly take enjoyment in it . . . Moody had to shake his head and stop his thoughts there. That was always a dangerous road to go down.

In truth, Moody hated almost everyone in the Auror department these days. All of the truly good and worthy ones died back in the last war. James, Frank, and Alice were all irreplaceable Aurors. When Sirius got serious, he was a great Auror as well. But the man tended to prank and laugh more than actually doing the job. In his opinion, it was only Amelia, Shacklebolt, and Tonks who were the saving graces of the department.

"What if you stayed with the Auror Corps as Amelia's bodyguard?" Moody asked. Knowing he seemed desperate, and he was. He didn't want to see his life's work in this department be replaced with incompetent idiots or Death Eater scum.

He fought for decades to defeat Dark Lords, he watched the young, the old, and the good die. Death wasn't always peaceful, the ones Moody had seen were always the stuff of horror and hell. Nightmare was just too nice a word to use for some of what Moody had witnessed. This job cost him a lot of things, a lot of people, some of the losses were too much to bear, and resulted in him becoming Mad Moody before he lost his eye.

Tonks closed her eyes and took a careful breath. Knowing exactly what Moody was thinking and feeling. Her and Amelia were probably the only ones in this room who knew the real and true Moody. He saw them as the daughters who were slaughtered in their cribs. He saw all of the people who he took under his wing as his children, but he treated the females with a hint of delicacy. It wasn't all that noticeable unless you were female. So to hear him effectively beg in his own way, was heartbreaking for Tonks.

It wasn't like she could come out say that she had lived all this before, and it was a path fraught with pain and many deaths. Her own included. Leaving behind an infant son who would never get to meet his mother, and know just how good of a man his father. She was told Ted took a lot after his mother with Remus's sense of responsibility and logical reasoning. It was for her son that she was doing this, and if Moody knew, she knew he would support her with every fiber of his being. He may grumble, whine, and complain, but it was his version of wishing her well and saying he'd be there for her, and back her every step of the way.

When she opened her eyes, her shoulder's squared ready for the first difficult face off in what was likely to be a long road of them for the foreseeable future.

"No." She said firmly. "I can't stay on even as that. As I said, I want to explore my options before I make a decision. I wish that things were different here, and I wish I could stay here, but I know in my soul that it's not the right fit for me. Now, more than ever before. If I stay it would be giving you false hope, and I can't have that. Forgive me, but I can't."

Amelia and Moody both sighed. The looks of utter disappointment and heartbreaking rejection caused tears to form in Tonks' eyes, but she held her resolve.

"You have my condolences, Tonks. This department has failed a great deal many people, and I could give excuses until I'm blue in the face. It's fact and the simple, disturbing truth that this department isn't what it used to be. A lot of the truly good recruits and candidates, like yourself, for this job are not given the proper chances because of the lack of funds and the power backing the infection plaguing this department. While I know not all of the Auror's are the problem, as we have several good people on the force, I am well aware that there are Auror's with questionable intent among its members." Amelia looked up and met Tonks' eyes. "I've no need to offer forgiveness as I do not believe that you have anything to apologize for, rather the opposite. It is us, who owe you a deep and sincere apology. I also understand this was a hard decision and one you've thought very carefully about. I will support it, and you, till I'm blue in the face from that as well. Have a good life Nymphadora Tonks, we are very sad to see you leave us."

Tonks set her credentials on Amelia's desk and stood to leave. "Normally, I would try to make this as painless as possible, but, um," Tonks looked back through the door, then sheepishly at Moody. "I take it there is still a mob out there?"

He gave a guttural growl before standing and marching to the door. Out in the bullpen, he stood nose to nose with Scrimgeour. At least the oaf had the decency to pale a little. Movement in the doorway drew his attention to Amelia, and Tonks, barely a step behind her.

"Madame Bones!" Scrimgeour yelled, but Moody let out another guttural growl taking another step forward, forcing Scrimgeour to take another step back and his voice lowered from the furious tone before, and could now almost pass as acceptable. "I must speak with you! One of my Aurors was unjustifiably attacked by that tramp trapezing as an Auror around our department! I will see justice done for my subordinate and punishment levied against this Auror!"

The room stilled, the men supporting Dawlish stood behind Scrimegour with a cold expression, but there was no mistaking the bloodlust in their eyes. All were obviously figuring they would soon be teaching Tonks her place. The women who were smug before were even more so now. Anticipating Tonks getting sacked or heavily punished. All of them of the consensus that it would be Azkaban for her, or later beaten down by her fellow squad members. Tonks would soon be punished and shown that true women still reigned supreme.

The rest, the good ones, were divide. Those who were waiting to see Scrimgeour and the rest of the lot properly smacked down and those were waiting to see if they would be smacked down, or if Amelia was forced to take their side as had happened in the past.

"What proof do you have?" Amelia asked in return using a cold tone.

The group that Tonks coined, "the rest", saw all of its members relax and join the first group of waiting to see Scrimgeour smacked down.

Scrimgeour glared at Amelia. "Is my word and the fact that Dawlish now at St. Mungo's for severe trauma and injuries because of that trollop's unprovoked vicious attack not enough for you!?"

"No." Amelia said simply, still using the same tone. "I need proof that the attack was, as you claim, unprovoked and vicious."

Scrimgeour shouted in frustration, cutting Amelia off before she could say anymore. "An Auror is attacked in the DMLE Headquarters and it's Department Head does nothing! Makes for a great headline, and I'm sure the Wizengamot will be seeking answers as well! This is not something you can ignore Bones! If Dawlish is not given justice, then there will be hell to pay! At the very least this Department will finally get a new head and no longer be considered a joke to the rest of the Ministry."

"Are you quite finished threatening me? Because I would like to finish my statement." Amelia narrowed her eyes at Scrimgeour. Scrimgeour fell silent, but the look of justification on his face spoke in volumes. As if, regardless of what Amelia said to counter him at that moment, it would be all over the Prophet tomorrow morning, painting her as the bad guy. "Now, then, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. I need proof. Meaning I will need Dawlish's memory and statement under Veritaserum, as proof of his allegations. As I just received from Auror Tonks."

This, Scrimgeour falter. "What!?"

"Yes," Amelia said with a cold smile. "Auror Tonks entered my office after she defended herself to inform me that Dawlish backed her into a corner. While using different words rather than saying his intentions outright, the meaning was clear. He said she was going to let him rape her, or he would break her in using the same method until she complied of her own free will. I've seen the memory in question, as had Senior Head Auror, Moody. Tonks has also made her statement under Veritaserum in the confines of my office before anyone could tamper with her statement or memories."

Scrimgeour's once red face was now green.

Amelia, seeing the clear demonstration of weakness, stepped forward. "As you can see, Head Auror Scrimgeour, I've followed due protocol, as had Auror Tonks. Do you have an Auror Guard on Dawlish, ready to take his statement and memory upon his awakening? Was it your intention to simply throw the book at Auror Tonks, without the following protocol yourself, or were you going to give her a proper interview, complete with dictaquill and two other, neutral party, Aurors to act as a witness and dictaquill operator?"

Nothing came from Scrimgeour's mouth. In fact, his jaw was so tightly clenched, and his lips were in such a thin line it was difficult to see that he even had a mouth.

"I see." Amelia said, her tone dropping from cold to downright freezing. At that moment, Amelia could make a dementor look cheery. "Instead of following protocol, and actually doing your job, you decided to just take the situation at face value and dispense your own ruling at justice. That," Amelia glared before snarling at Scrimgeour, "is beyond unacceptable!"

Amelia's face then calmed as she looked to Tonks, "Auror Tonks, forgive me, I realize you were about to leave this building after that shocking ordeal before we were so rudely interrupted. I do not blame you for holding your ground in my office. The floo is just there, please feel free to use it, I'm sure you're anxious to get home and tell your parents about what occurred here today. I'll be expecting the floo call from Regent Black and Attorney Tonks that's sure to come from this."

Scrimgeour seemed to stop breathing at the mention of who the Tonks' were. As if he'd forgotten their occupations and their reputations, or perhaps, he'd forgotten their existence entirely. However slim the chance, it was entirely possible he didn't know that Tonks was their daughter. Though she didn't see how, as Tonks wasn't a common name in Wizarding Britain.

With the situation well and truly handled in the bullpen, leaving behind a Director Bones shouting for a couple of Aurors to go get Dawlish's statement and to not leave without his memory of the incident if he was determined to press charges, Tonks walked past the rest of the department and flooed to her flat in Diagon Alley. She then locked it down and packed up her flat of everything it held before shrinking the items and putting them in her pocket. It was no longer safe to stay there, and given that she wasn't going to be living there much longer anyway, best to say goodbye to this chapter of her life, and turn the page for a better brighter one. Fully packed, ready for her future, and under a disillusionment charm, she walked the mostly deserted back alleyways of Diagon to their apparition point.

By continuously saying "Auror Tonks" during the confrontation, then later mentioning her parents, Amelia was laying down the law and sending a powerful message.

The first was that no woman had to put up with that kind of treatment anymore. Auror Tonks took a stand, said no more, and Amelia backed her 100%. If Amelia could back Tonks, she sure as Merlin could and would defend the others.

The second was reminding the DMLE just who Tonks parents were.

Andromeda Tonks (née Black) aka, Regent Black, was a powerhouse within the Ministry, as well as one of the top healers in St. Mungo's. Possibly all of magical Britain. The sole force behind several breakthroughs in potions and medical treatments. All of that combined with the fact that she had access to the Black family magic and secrets, pretty much terrified everyone into silence around her. She could theoretically kill a person and make it look like an accident. Only her healer's oath prevented her from doing so. However, no one wanted to take the chance that she found a way around it.

Edward Tonks, an Attorney, was also a powerhouse, and among the best in his field. The Wizarding public could count on their hands the number of cases he'd lost. All of those were back in his early carrier. Later, during a retrial, or when a different issue was levied against his once failed clients, Ted Tonks, won.

Both were formidable by their own right, when combined into a team, especially in the defense of their daughter, the accusing party, though appropriately called "the victim" by the Tonks', better run, or be prepared to be ruined for eternity.

Tonks knew there would be nothing further mentioned in the Ministry. Since she gave her memory, and Director Bones would write up an official report of the incident, Dawlish couldn't do much against Tonks' memory. He could give a statement, but without it being given under Veritaserum, there would be little stock going into his statement. Especially if he refused to provide a memory for the conversation before the assault.

She wasn't a fool. She damn good and well Dawlish would neither provide a memory or allow himself to be interviewed under Veritaserum. He would provide his version of the confrontation, and nothing else. So it was his word, backed only by his say so, against her memory, and the statement she gave.

Tonks was 99% sure that would be the last she heard of it officially, but she knew that Dawlish and Scrimgeour weren't going to go away any time soon. In fact, Scrimgeour was proving to be even more of a sexist pig in this life than he'd been in the past. Dawlish was always a problem, now it would appear rather just being a Death Eater sympathizer, and blind follower, he was an active member of that community.

She put those two names on the ever-growing shit list of people their family would have to deal with. Whether indirectly or in direct confrontation depended on the offending parties' future choices.

Even without her quitting her job, Tonks could see that things had already changed. All she could figure was the angels had rigged this world a little bit so their group would have to take action. Talk about the hands fate dealt you.

To say that Tonks surprised her parents were confused to see her there, especially since she had her own flat in Diagon Alley, was an understatement. Given during this time in the past, she was trying to avoid her parents, they were used to her keeping them at a distance. Their shock was even more pronounced when Tonks told them about what happened at the DMLE, and she quit before leaving the Headquarters. How she was going to be moving back home, and she was waiting for an old friend to arrive.

She wasn't sure how she knew, perhaps it was Mal's ability rubbing off on her, or perhaps she could feel his soul, but she knew Remus was on his way, and he was very close. He too was ignoring her flat, as if sensing she would abandon it at first opportunity.

Her parents reacted exactly as Amelia had "predicted" in the bullpen. Other than that, Tonks declined to know anything else. She would learn what happened no matter what, so she wasn't exactly desperate for the information at the moment.

The evening had barely begun when there was a knock on the Tonks' front door. Tonks ran for it faster than her parents could get up. When she opened it wide, she was beaming as she was met with an equally beaming Remus. A far less scarred, more physically fit and outfitted in better clothes. This was the Remus from the afterlife. The true Remus. This was the Remus without the negative side effects and horrible treatment in the Wizarding World globally. This was who Remus was supposed to have been all along.

"Get lost on the way here?" She teased.

He laughed. "Not all."

"When did you get back?"

They both knew she wasn't talking about his return to Britain.

"I woke up in Romania, got a letter from the old bleater that was so crazed it's laughable." Remus grinned at her. "Took me over a week to get back to the British Isles because of all of the pelt hunters. You?"

"This afternoon right after Dawlish smacked my bum." Tonks said with a grin as Remus suddenly snarled. "I then kicked him where it counts, with magic added, before decking him in the face. I went to Amelia and quit then and there. Are you by chance in need of a teaching assistant?"

He grinned as he pulled her into his arms. Before kissing her for all his worth, he growled against her lips, "I could certainly be persuaded if I do take the job."

Then they were connected. Not caring about the world around them as their mouths mated. Tonks had even forgotten all about her parents as she wrapped her limps around her mate intending to never let him go again. He would have to put up with her putting a leash on him and tying him up in the basement before she'd let him leave her.

"What in Merlin's name is going on here!?"

Tonks' insides froze, and Remus' as well. They broke apart and looked into the alcove inside the door where Andromeda and Ted were standing and staring at the couple.

Ted was looking confused: on the one hand, his daughter who was barely into her twenties was kissing on a man who was well into his thirties. On the other hand, Tonks was happier in this man's arms than he'd ever seen before. His fatherly instincts were at war with each other.

Andromeda, however, was more than little on the way to being utterly infuriated. First the incident at the DMLE, her daughter moving back in with them, now this man showed up on their doorstep!? A man, that Andromeda knew and knew there was no way in fiendfire's hell blaze that the two should even be looking at each other in the romantic fashion. Especially since if they had met at all, it would have been back when James and Lily were alive. Something wasn't right here; she could feel her magic humming agreement.

"Oh." Tonks gasped, "Bugger it all I forgot about them!"

"Forgot about us!?" Andromeda screeched, losing the last straw of her patience. "Your own parents!?"

"Well, we did have their blessing before." Remus muttered in response, hoping that Andromeda wouldn't start launching curses.

"Nymphadora Eloise Tonks!" Andromeda yelled, "You better start explaining yourself immediately!"

"Eloise?" Remus looked at Tonks amused, "Why didn't you tell me you had a middle name?"

"What are we going to do!?" Tonks hissed as she ignored his question and tightened her hold on him. "I am not going to live without you, but we never stopped and considered my parents."

Deciding to oblige her, Remus let the middle name issue drop, for now. He grinned as he whispered. "I actually asked about that."

Tonks looked at him shocked. He nodded. "Mal had a thought, and Michael didn't object to her theory. The main part of it was we could tell your parents the whole truth."

Tonks set her feet on the ground and pulled Remus into another kiss. When she let go of him there was a suction sound and a pop then she was grinning before his eyes. "Remind me to snog that girl senseless when we see her again!"

"It's currently against the law." Remus chuckled, "But you can certainly hug her."

Taking that under advisement, Tonks looked back at her parents. "Mum, daddy, this is Remus Lupin. Werewolf extraordinaire, best DADA professor you'll ever meet, and one of the members of the Hogwarts infamous Marauders, codename Mooney. Course you already knew all of that, but what you don't know is he's my mate!"

Ted fell onto the nearest flat surface to support himself as his legs had given out. Of all the things he was thinking, those were not the words he expected to come out of his daughter's mouth.

Andromeda paled. "WHAT!?"

Ted nodded vehemently in agreement with his wife, his voice and quick thinking failing him for the first time in his life.

"HOW did this happen!? WHEN did this happen!? Is this at all connected to the incident at the DMLE this morning!?" Because as loath as they were to admit it, if Dawlish and his lackeys began to treat Tonks that way, and they could claim they did it because she associating with a known werewolf, then there would be grounds for immediate dismissal.

Ted nodded vehemently in agreement with his wife again.

"Okay, first of all, no. My being mates with Remus has nothing to do with why I left my job." Tonks said as she disentangled herself from Remus and dropped both feet on the ground so she was facing them directly. "The _how_ was because of the second rising of Voldemort after the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He'd rigged it all so Harry would win, and then used Harry's blood as part of a ritual. Harry being only fourteen could only do so much, but did manage to fight a newly revived Voldemort to a standstill and get back to Hogwarts alive. Damaged but alive. Remus and I both found ourselves drafted into Dumbledore's reestablished Order of the Phoenix. Oh, you hated every moment of my work with them mum. You hated Dumbledore more.

"Now, the _when_ is a little trickier. It happened, roughly two years later, Sirius died in the DOM having been hit by the killing curse, cast by our nasty relative Bellatrix Lestrange, and falling through the Veil of Death the year prior. I'd been trying to get his attention since before Sirius's death, but after the fact, and realizing what we all stood to lose hit that much harder, and I pushed at him. Hard. Eventually, he cracked, and we became a couple. Marrying shortly after that, and right before we were killed at Hogwarts a year later, we had a son." Tonks looked at her father. "We named him after you daddy."

Both parents were pale, looking extremely confused, and even Andromeda was now sporting shaking legs. No words, not even thoughts could reach the parents' front consciousness. The story, had to be a lie because the Potter boy was still 12, and yet, Tonks had that serious look in her eyes. The one that said she wasn't lying.

"Perhaps we should take this inside Mrs. Tonks." Remus said gently, understanding the parents were very shell shocked and they needed to take this slow and carefully. He also remembered the powerhouse Andromeda was, added with her temper, she could give Bellatrix a run for her money when it came to rage-induced rampages. He wanted to avoid that at all costs. "I promise, we'll answer any questions you have once we're inside."

Andromeda's mouth formed a thin line as her eyes narrowed. One side of her wanted to throw this scoundrel out, and never let her daughter talk to him again. However, her daughter was a grown woman, and fully capable of making her own choices. As much as Andromeda wanted to gripe about the age difference, she couldn't overlook the fact that her daughter chose a good man for once.

Then there was that story that made no sense unless, . . . and there it was, that word, unless. Questions filled her mind, and only these two had the answers.

And the day had started off so promising too.

Nymphadora finally quit being an Auror. Grant it this was after she was threatened in her place of work by her male coworkers, but Nymphadora still quit. Something Andromeda was thrilled about. She hated how it happened, and she was going after the Auror who threatened her, but she was glad for her daughters change in occupation nonetheless.

As a healer, and a survivor of the last war, she was in a unique position that she'd seen pretty much all there was to see, with new horrors making appearances even in present times. Andromeda saw the battle wounds, both in the hospital and on the battlefield itself during the aftermath. She saw death. Too much of it. Young, old, fresh new life. She saw quick and painless; she saw slow and torturous. Andromeda had cleaned more blood off her hands than any Dark Lord could proudly claim.

She knew better than anyone what that job meant. Especially with society being the way it was presently. She couldn't say anything to her daughter because of her Healer's Oath, but she had seen several patients coming to St. Mungo's in need of treatment after being raped, even if they had no memory of the event. That the victims were of both genders was no surprise.

Added to that whole shock to their system, now this. Now Remus freaking Lupin was on her doorstep, claiming to be her daughter's mate! Okay, perhaps he hadn't said the words, but he sure as Merlin's hairy ballsack wasn't denying it!

Despite her daughter's claim to the contrary, this was connected to her daughter's spur of the moment decision to quit the DMLE. It might not be directly linked, but it was linked. The question was how?

After an intense internal struggle, ending with her desire for more information, Andromeda closed her eyes and nodded as she took a deep breath to steady herself. Stepping aside to allow the two outside into the house.

She reasoned it was better to have all of the facts before she started launching curses. It would also give Ted enough time to work up her defense when she attached Remus. Though in reality, in Britain, she could probably attack him for kissing her daughter and get off with barely a slap on her wrist. She looked at her husband and he nodded. He knew what she was thinking and that she was right about her last assessment.

They all sat in the living room as the Tonks' house elf brought out tea and biscuits.

"Now, Remus." Andromeda tried not to snarl. "What the _hell_ is going on?"

No one in the room pretended. They knew that the question was regarding the story they tried to sell the Tonks parents.

Remus merely sat forward and calmly regarded the couple before him, "Before we answer your questions, I have a few of my own, and it will see to how much details we can give you?"

This didn't shock the elder couple. Given what was said before, it was normal there would be some security with this tale. Before they could even think about asking questions or given the option to disagree, Remus plowed ahead.

"First, how good is your security here? Your privacy wards to be exact?"

Ted, seeing as this was his question to answer, finally found his voice. "I do work for Gringotts a lot of the time. They have a person they want dealt with, but can't due to the treaty, I'm called in to see what I can do for them. That's the basic idea of what I do for them, anything further I'm not at liberty to speak of. I can say, however, that they erected all of our wards, and they are substantially better than the Ministries."

"I was hoping you'd say that." Remus nodded with a grin. "My second question is; how proficient are you two with occlumency?"

"We're not the best, but our secrets stay our own." Andromeda said firmly. She had, after all, been trained by the Black family since childhood, and she, in turn, helped get her husband up to her level.

"Even against certain white-bearded old men?" Remus asked softly.

Andromeda growled. That was the second time today that bastard was mentioned outright in her home. "What does that manipulative wrinkled old arsehole have to do with this!?"

"And that answer my third question without my asking it." Remus chuckled. "You obviously hate the old goat fucker as much as I do."

"He wanted to put my daughter into a carrier that would see her raped and killed! I argued heavily against this, but my concerns then blatant rejections were shoved aside as he made sure she was inducted into the Auror Corps. He told us time and again she was safe and nothing like what I feared would come to pass. As she was threatened with rape today in the DMLE, I was right!" Andromeda shrieked.

Remus glanced at Tonks, and she nodded. "That's why I beat Dawlish down to size."

"And what do you mean you hate Dumbledore!?" Andromeda continued without noticing the exchange. "You were always Dumbledore's man! He saved you! Got you an education! You would jump through fire hoops for that man!"

"No. I wasn't." Remus growled back at her. "I'll grant you that it was by his word I got my education, whatever plots he had for me are his own and I've no interest in playing along. However, I wasn't, and never will be his boy/man. That just sounds wrong on so many levels, and I'm not going to touch that subject. I also wasn't saved by him, that honor belongs to James and Sirius alone. I was, however, potioned to be loyal to him. Given how she never argued too heavily against him, your daughter as well."

At that, Andromeda's wand was out and scanning the two of them. Both had traces of low self-esteem potions, loyalty potions, with Remus's potion having a strong alchemic component which told Andromeda all she needed to know about who came up with it and who was dosing them. When she finished her scans, she slumped down shocked.

"How?" She whispered. "You two still have the potions in your systems, they're still active, and yet you seem unaffected. In fact, I'd say they're all but neutralized."

"That leads me to my fourth question." Remus said. "Do you have a pensive?"

"Bindy!" Andromeda barked.

"What can Bindy be doing for Misses Andy?" The little house elf with floppy years, bright turquoise eyes, wearing a pink patchwork dress that looked as if it belonged on a doll, asked when she appeared.

"Please bring us the pensive."

Bindy snapped her fingers, and a large stone basin revealed the Black family crest appeared where the coffee table had been a moment before. Said coffee table was now resting against the wall on the other side of the room, and Bindy had vanished the moment the pensive appeared.

Tonks looked shocked and turned her gaze towards Remus. "You mean _she_ predicted all of this!?"

Remus smiled and shrugged. "She theorized it was possible. Andromeda being one of the best healers in Magical Britain, and your father being a lawyer. Who better to help us, and the other members of our extended family when they are going to need it most?"

Tonks sat back, letting her brain mull that over as Remus dropped two very long strands of memories into the pensive. She was aware that the memories would be reclaimed or burned away in the pensive it's self after her parents finished viewing them.

"How long?" She asked once her parents were submerged without saying a word to the younger couple.

He shrugged. "I would say about an hour for each life. Figured I'd spare them the stuff in the afterlife for now. I'm only showing them the canon verse, as it's coined, and the last one."

Tonks shuddered. "Dark Lady Hermione indeed. Bitch better stay away from him this time around."

"I completely agree with you on that matter love, Mal is a much better fit for Ares." Remus agreed.

"What in specific are you showing them?" She asked watching her parents' heads floating in the bowl.

"Like I said, the first life completely through, then the last one. But in each life, I'm highlighting Dumbledore's manipulations, as well as the Ministries incompetence. I'm also able to shed light on the later happenings because Ares gave me some of his memories, which it's explained before his memories begin."

"When did you two work on this?" She asked in utterly confused as to when he found the time.

"While you and Mal were working on her morphing abilities." He answered with a playful grin.

Though they wanted to do a lot more, they knew now wasn't the time, so they settled for curling on the couch, with her legs wrapped around one of his, as her head rested on his chest.

Her parents would likely have a lot of questions, and the need to make them understand everything, and get their support, was all Tonks wanted. She didn't need their promises to help. She just wanted to know that they still loved her and would accept this new path she was going to walk with Remus.

She didn't think her mother would object too much when she realized that her grandson would probably be born a lot sooner than he had in their previous lives. Her father adored Remus the last time around, and she was banking on that happening again this time.

When Andromeda and Ted emerged from the Pensive, Remus moved quickly to destroy the memories and get an unbreakable vow from both elder Tonks's that they would never reveal any what they just learned. Be it through verbal telling or legimency attacks.

Any other day, with any other occurrence, Andromeda would have disagreed vehemently, but given what she knew now, there was no denying that this knowledge couldn't get back to either the light or the dark factions, or it would ruin their entire world. She and Ted knew if they were caught by either side, they wouldn't be making it out of their clutches alive anyway. At least this way their family knew if they died, their information was safe.

It was a cold and cruel thought, but it was one that Andromeda agreed with. So she gave her vow, and Ted gave his without question, thinking the exact same as his wife.

Once the vows were given, it was time for another very important thing, a cold glass of hard liquor.

"How can we help?" Ted asked after draining his drink, there was a darkness to his tone that Tonks never heard in her father before.

"Sirius will need his name cleared." Remus said in a calculating tone, swirling his drink around as he contemplated. "I'm not sure when the best time will be to reveal this, but either way," he looked at Andromeda who had also downed her drink and was fixing to down another, "all three of us will need to be flushed of these blasted potions as soon as possible, and at the very least, Sirius will need put on a series of health potions to get him back up to snuff. That's just the three of us, I'm not sure who else is going to need your treatments this summer."

Draining her second, then a third glass, Andromeda nodded and she began making notes, as did Ted.

For Ted, it was a series of places to check on the situation of Sirius's arrest and trial, though he knew for a fact that there was never a trial, and what information there was would be minimal. He just needed to get all of this information into his hands and safely stored before Dumbledore, Fudge, or Crouch decided to cover up the whole mess and make life even more difficult for them. He was certain that the information hadn't been grabbed yet. They were only notified of Sirius's escape yesterday, there hadn't been a cooling-off period yet. Meaning the people who could hide the information hadn't been given a chance to do so. Though that time was fast approaching.

For Andromeda, she was writing up a series of potions she was going to need on hand for when Sirius arrived and access to the others should they be needed. She wrote the list of what she was going to need for Remus to counteract that alchemic component the first time around. The fact that she even had to make such a list for her daughter made her blood boil. She also wrote a different list for another individual, she didn't write the name, knowing that his public name was about to be changed to his true name soon. She would need different potions for him, as well as access to a quick ritual that would unlock the blocks on his core if they hadn't been already. That just left the others that would come.

"What of these others?" Andromeda asked looking up at Remus. "You keep mentioning a young woman? Do I need to make a list of potions for her too? What kind of physical state is she in?"

"I have no idea. I would like to think she'll be just fine and will soon be home. As for the others, I can't say who will be joining our family until we're all reunited." Remus shrugged. "I can, however, make a few educated guesses based on the differences between the lives. Is there anything different this time around that you two noticed after viewing the memories?"

Ted nodded. "The Bones daughter in America."

"Oh yeah, I noticed that too, but it didn't stay in my thoughts for more than a second." Tonks looked at Remus and nodded. "Amelia has a squib brother who works in the muggle world. He has a daughter in America who is a witch. He married a muggle but quickly divorced after the honeymoon because of the religious situation or something. He didn't even know he had a daughter until a couple of years ago. She got a letter from Ilvermorning and her mothers family tried to kill her. An accidental bought of magic saw the MACUSA reacting and took custody of her immediately. He left to go help her immediately upon learning about her. There's this long custody battle taking place over there with the muggles right now."

"That would be Mal. Matches what we know from her past lives." Remus grinned. "I think we already know what the fate of that battle will be."

Tonks grinned. "We sure do! I can't wait to hug her again!"

"Agreed." Remus chuckled. "We don't have to worry about her just yet. We need to get everything here ready for her arrival this summer, and the situation that brings her and Ares together. There's going to be massive fall out from this, and we have no way of knowing just yet how things are going to come about. The contract only states that certain things will happen, not exactly how."

"First and foremost, we need to find Sirius." Tonks nodded.

"We already know where he's going to be. We just need to go grab him and bring him back here." Remus said, then looked around nervously. "What about the Aurors, will they come here looking for him?"

Andromeda shook her head. "They already ransacked the place yesterday."

"Speaking of which, mum," Tonks asked gesturing toward the pensive, "Since when do we have Black Family artifacts in our home?"

"Since Arcturus gave them to me. He gave me a lot of things to me for safekeeping before he died. This way, even before I was named Regent publicly, others couldn't ransack the Black properties looking for them." Andromeda said matter-of-factly. "He specifically didn't want the Malfoy's getting a hold of it, or the Lestrange's should they get out. He didn't say much on the subject, but he said the next Lord Black should be of better stock than either candidate that the Wizengamot believed it was."

Remus and Tonks looked at each other and nodded. "Sirius."

"Though in all fairness to the current life and situations within, he might have been thinking of our wonder boy." Tonks supplied the alternate.

Remus shrugged, "Regardless, we know who it will be before fall."

Tonks grinned. "And so begins our new life."

Remus shared her grin. "In the spirit of a new life love, why don't you adopt the nickname Nym? You don't seem to mind when I say it, and even you can't deny that you loved it when Mal called you that."

She sighed and thought for a moment. The old Tonks would have fought against this tooth and nail. She hated the name with a passion and cursed her mother under her breath every time the full name was spoken. But that Tonks was an Auror, and died too young while fighting in a war that could have ended before it even began.

She smiled at Remus and nodded. "Nym it is."

"You two go get our house guest." Andromeda ordered. "I'm going to St. Mungo's to get a bunch of potions. Thank Merlin I'm due to start my tinkering anyway, my taking all of these potions won't even register a bat of an eye. Otherwise, I doubt I have enough favors to cover the amount and the specific ones needed. I'll need to send you, Nym, in disguise to get a bunch of ingredients for more."

"No problem, mum." Nym nodded at her mother with a bright smile. Even her mother had acknowledged this name. This life was just getting better and better.

"I'm going to the Ministry to grab the necessary documents before they disappear." Ted said standing. No further explanation was needed from him, nor was there anything to say.

The younger couple nodded at the elder before they all went their separate ways.

Ted Tonks, aka Edward Tonks; Magical Attorney, member of the board and a full-time employee of Pandora's Law Firm, was in and out of the Ministry in under half an hour. Though, in all honesty, he had a lot working in his favor that afternoon.

The Ministry officials were still in shock of the Black escape, and the Wizengamot had been in session since the moment the notice went out. Moody's retirement in the midst of all of this was also a shock to the Ministry, and not one they thought they needed right now.

Despite the fact that Moody had been saying he was going to retire this week, and been saying it for almost a whole year, the Ministry, the Wizengamot in particular, was now dead set against it. He'd already been called in by Amelia to defend Moody's retirement if necessary.

Those two were big issues by themselves, add in the situation with Tonks in the Aurors Bullpen this morning, everyone was distracted. Be it looking for news, or gossiping, no eyes were on Ted. He was able to get into the Records department, get what he wanted, and get out rather quickly, and unnoticed. Though he did spot Dumbledore heading in that direction as he left. Telling Ted and everyone else that the Wizengamot had finally closed down their session for today, whether or not choices were made, remained to be seen.

Ted was confident that his visit was unnoticed as he used one of his pseudonyms on the sign-in sheet. He also knew how to move and blend into a place without looking suspicious or drawing attention to himself. Something Dumbledore never allowed to happen, having always needed to make his presence known.

While Ted had taken the original documents, he wasn't stupid enough to leave the file empty, so he left a copy. There wasn't much of a difference, except the magical signatures. Which, having seen one of the names, Ted wasn't surprised that Dumbledore was heading in that direction with as much haste as the man could muster without being even more suspicious then he was.

He quickly headed for home to get to work and wait on his family to return to him. Deciding it was better for his sanity to work on legal matters rather than try to wrap his head around the bigger picture which was getting bigger by the minute. It would also stop him from picturing his baby girl with a grown man who could be Ted's younger brother age-wise. When a shotgun with silver pellets inside the shell casings sounded like a fetching idea, it was time to drown out the world with the dreary and monotone wording of legal documents.

Andromeda Tonks walked through St. Mungo's with little standing in her way. Someone occasionally paused her to ask questions about a patient, but otherwise, she was undeterred. She was a well-known healer in this building. Her past as a Black daughter was all but forgotten because of her marriage to Ted. Her staying in contact with her grandfather until his passing was unknown to everyone except her husband, as he worked as the lawyer for the Black family in the end.

It was well known within St. Mungo's that during the summer months Andromeda went into research mode, on potions in particular, as they were the most common method of treating patients. Not much to do in the way of tinkering with charms or counter-curses unless you made an all-new spell. Andromeda found potions easier to alter. She would find ways to alter them; to make them stronger, or dumbing down their contents enough that younger children could take them without risk. So far, she had successfully altered over two dozen potions in the last decade so that a younger demographic could have access to some of the strongest and guarantee remedy potions that only adults could take in the past.

The belief that potions worked on all ages was sheer lunacy! And she about had an aneurysm arguing with Pomfrey and Dumbledore about it in the past. Some potions wouldn't mix well with a prepubescent child. Likewise, some potions were specific to children who hadn't undergone puberty that adults could not take. The consequences for children were either underdeveloped cores or death. For adults, it affected their brain chemistry, often leading to a depleted sex drive. There were worse symptoms, but those were the most common.

Andromeda honestly blamed the drop-in power among Pureblood families because of their inbreeding, for one, but also because they refused to listen to proven facts. If it was what their family were doing for years, they weren't about to stop and took the potions that weren't regulated for their age, leading to defects in themselves as well as their children. Magic and the muggle study of genetics did play a part in the children's underdevelopment, physical deformities, as well as the squibs due to the inbreeding of Purebloods. But there was also much to be said about their traditions and not learning new things that harmed their families as well.

It was one of Andromeda's biggest issues with their society and she was working on a report that would prove her theory and knowledge, as well as a bill with Ted's help to stop the use of potions for all ages and restrict certain potions to certain ages. And would see parents fined if their children were not properly treated and were given the wrong potions.

With all of that common knowledge within St. Mungo's, when she came in a little early to gather up several potions, and began writing up requests for others that her house elf would pick up later once they were ready, the other healers just naturally assumed she was on a brainwave and decided it was best to not bother her or upset her process.

It also wasn't uncommon for her to have an anonymous patient that was willing to be the guinea pig to test these altered potions. She liked to get them as healthy as possible before they tackled the real issue. Which explained the several healing, nourishment and muscle correction, Skele-Gro, and magic stabilizing potions she requested.

So although she was fixing to heal up an escaped convict, and a greatly abused child who was a "well known" celebrity, no one could see anything unusual about her behavior. Thus, her true objective was accomplished, and she went home satisfied she would be undisturbed all summer other than her occasional shifts at the hospital.

Ted was home before Andromeda, and he was sitting going over the documents at the dining room table when she came in with all of her potions and began to gather parchment for notes and other things while she worked. Bindy was called and told the be on the lookout for a summons for more potions if Andromeda didn't send her for more before then.

Ted sat back and sighed setting down his quill.

"That bad?" Andromeda asked a little concerned.

"The names involved are shocking, and the lengths they went to, all to ensure that Sirius never saw the light of day." He shook his head, "As if that wasn't bad enough, on a hunch, I also grabbed the Potter's file, and, what it contains it sheer madness, Andie. Sheer madness. I can't believe the world is so fooled by this one man." He sighed and rested his head back. "I'll need more time to sort it all out and figure out what can be done. Regardless, this is going to become bigger news than anything about the Bones daughter or the day that Dark prick fell."

"I doubt that." Andromeda said. "From what I saw in those memories, as well as what little tidbits I managed to snag from the young couple who left here when we did, I'd say the media is in for a run of Head Line stories that will grip this nation and have them on the edges of their seats for months."

Ted, after thinking it over, nodded in agreement.

Then they both sighed, tentatively approaching the subject neither really wanted to discuss.

"How do we handle this?" Ted asked softly, his hands linked behind his head.

Andromeda kept her eyes on the parchment in front of her as she twirled her quill in her fingers. "I'm conflicted." She said just as softly before falling silent again. Ted merely let her work it out in her mind and let her talk when she was ready. When she did, she didn't disappoint. "On the one hand, I want to curse the ballsack off Remus and shove the offending appendage down his throat for even looking at my daughter! But then, I see how happy she is with him, and I am forced to realize he's not the boy I remember. He's a man and a soul who has suffered more tragedy than a person should have to." Andromeda sighed and as she sat back smiling softly. "I saw our grandson in those memories Ted, and he was perfect. I decided to put aside my petty grievances in regards to Remus's childhood, as well as his age, and just let them have their future. Seeing what they endured, and knowing why, I can't help but feel they deserve this, and I should support them."

"I wanted to buy a shotgun with silver pellets in the shell casing." Ted admitted. Seeing his wife's incredulous look, he laughed. "I was of a similar mind as you in the beginning, but I wanted mine to be a little more bloody and painful. I started work to calm down and reached, more or less, the same conclusion as you. Tonks is no longer my baby girl, and yes, it hurts to admit that. Then I remember seeing my grandson in those memories, I never got to meet him. I want to meet him; I want to hold him and see him grow up with his brothers and sisters. I know it hurts you that we couldn't have more or a son for my name. But it never hurt me. I looked forward to our grandsons and granddaughters. I just wanted to believe my daughter was an eternal virgin forever, regardless if she pops out a brood like the Weasley's."

Andromeda shuddered, "Anything but that!"

He nodded. "Yeah, I can't see that ending well either."

Andromeda hung her head for a moment, when she raised it, she was sniffling back tears. "Lily was such a dear friend, and Sirius was family. First, we lose Lily. All we were told was she was killed by Voldemort. Nothing else! We also knew we were among the guardians chosen to raise Harry. Regardless of the situation with my womb, you should have still had a son to raise. Yet we never knew what became of him.

"Then there's Sirius! We knew how much he loved James and Lily, we knew that Peter was a weak man and a spineless coward, even in petty arguments. It makes sense that Sirius in a fit of rage would go after Peter while blaming himself for the deaths of the Potters. Yet we never defended him! We never asked questions Ted, and that's what we do for a living! We never asked! We never even bothered to check in on the son of our dearest friends! How could I, you, us, turn a blind eye to all of this!? It's not like us!"

Ted had a feeling and knew this needed to be asked, but also knew his wife's temper. He got up slowly, came around the table, and began to rub her back and shoulders. "You scanned our daughter and the werewolf once and future son in law; did it not occur to you to scan us?"

Andromeda's guilt turned into shock as she stared at her husband for a moment. Then it turned to determination as she scanned herself and him. He was right; from guilt, to shock, to so pissed off even the Devil and Morgana herself would have run away in fear of his wife at that moment.

Ted decided then and there to step well out of the way when they saw Dumbledore next and be ready to defend his wife to the best of his ability because even he wasn't daft enough to try and stop his wife. He vastly preferred being able to shag her when they felt like it and sleeping in his bed.

Andromeda, with slow and careful movements, rose up from her seat, walked out of the dining room, deliberately leaving her wand on the table beside her quill.

The next several minutes were filled with noise. Lots of noise. He heard his wife screaming in utter fury, as well belting out several curses, and actual curses – the magical kind, that would even have made the Dark faction of their society pale. All the while there was a series of smashes, the shattering of various glasses, and other such items, then it all went quiet.

She came back in and sat down taking a deep breath, and then another, and another.

"All things be fixed now Misses Andy." Bindy said as she briefly popped in before popping out again.

"Thank you Bindy." Andromeda sighed, knowing the little elf could hear her wherever she was.

Ted sat back down himself and took his wife's hand. Deciding he already knew what the answer was, he just needed to know to what extent. "What's the damage?"

"Same loyalty potions, but to a lesser degree which is why it was never caught. I did a deep scan fearing that might be the case. There was that, as well as several compulsion charms that wouldn't allow us to ask questions despite our doubts or straight up being against it." She raised a hand over her eyes, a headache starting to throb in her temples. "No wonder the boy said both Dumbledore and Voldemort were terrible evils that cannot be allowed to live for much longer. If we were victims of this, how many more are there, Ted? How can we possibly counter this without causing hysteria? St. Mungo's and the Ministry can't possibly deal with this as they currently are."

"We'll think of something. As Nym said, this is just the beginning. Things always look daunting at the start. All we can do is deal with situations as they come, and slowly chip away at the rest of the problem until we catch a break." He promised as he rubbed the back of her hand. "Regardless, he will pay. Take comfort in that love. Might not be by our hands, though I will certainly give it my damnedest, he will pay."

"I'll drink to that, later though." She said as she pulled her notes and various potions to her again. "Once I confirm that the charges coming under my care soon are one hundred percent healthy and can do what we cannot. I've already canceled the charms put on us, I'll start us on the same reversal and preventative regiment as the others for the loyalty potions before bed."

There was a series of cracks that indicated apparition and they rushed to the front door. Standing just inside was the young couple and a very dirty, frail, haggard-looking Sirius Black in thin and failing prison fatigues.

"Bindy has bath all ready for mangy dog." Bindy said with a look of disgust at Sirius as she held her nose, and her face slightly turned away from the party. This was reaction was not caused by Sirius's person and legal situation, rather it was his state of uncleanliness that Bindy couldn't bear.

"Thank you Bindy, dear." Andromeda heartfully crooned at the elf.

Remus and Nym both had one of Sirius's arms thrown over their shoulders. They hefted the tired old dog up the stairs and into the bath that Bindy had ready for him. Said house elf immediately began cleaning up after them all so the house was still immaculately clean. Taking the prison fatigues only to burn them without actually touching them. Remus had never seen a house elf with OCD before, and he looked forward to seeing Ares's reaction to the little female elf.

Nym left the bathroom shortly after Sirius began to strip, as that was not a sight she wanted to see and went downstairs to be with her parents. Remus stayed to get Sirius into the bath.

Nym found her parents working at the dining room table. It was a normal scene in the house, as both rejected the idea of private offices, so they could work in the same room, at the big table. They already spent their workdays apart from each other, even if they were still working, they at least wanted to be in the same room. Something Nym always found equally annoying as well as comforting in the past. Now, she understood it better, and it was comforting and charming that after all this time, they still wanted to spend as much time together as they could.

Though the contents of their work were new.

"You two are coping rather well with all of this news, I must say." Nym grinned at them.

They both looked up at her, but they weren't smiling. There was a look of anger and a hint of betrayal in those looks.

"What's wrong?" Nym asked, doing her best not to panic. Mal's visions or "theories" as she called them, hadn't been wrong yet. Nym put all her hope into Mal not leading her wrong here. And she was not disappointed, as it wasn't her, or the situation with Remus that had her parents upset.

"We've discovered that we've been potioned as well." Ted told her as he sat back. "I'm sure you know by whom."

Nym growled. "I'm going to strangle that white-whiskered arse with his beard!"

"Not if I beat you to it!" Andromeda growled herself. Then she waved a hand. "But given what we saw in those memories; we know it won't be any of the Tonks family that will rip that beard of his off."

Nym sighed defeated as she took a seat. "True." Then she giggled. "I can just see Mal getting so pissed off at him, and him being none the wiser, and her just marching up and ripping that beard of his off!" Nym then threw her head back and laughed before looking at her parents amused looks. "Trust me, you haven't met her yet, but Mal is one amazing girl. She's kinder than Sprout is, but when she gets angry, she's worse than Lily or Molly Weasley."

"How's that?" Ted asked unconvinced, remembering Lily's legendary temper, and trying not to shudder remembering the recent rant Molly went on.

Nym just grinned viciously. "Mal rarely shrieks. She'll raise her voice, she'll yell, but mostly, she gets even. I've seen her go after powerful beings when she's angry." Nym shuddered remembering one afternoon while training with Ares under the angel's guidance. "Trust me, Death Eaters would be crying if they had to face her."

Andromeda also got a scary smile. "I look forward to meeting her then. She sounds like a wonderful addition to the Black daughters."

Bindy appeared and announced dinner was ready, and all work was put into the shelf space that were labeled for Andromeda and Ted's work and would be put back on the table once dinner was finished. Remus came in to find the dining room table being set rather meticulously by Bindy. He sat down as he had many times before and began helping himself to the lamb chops, potatoes, and various vegetables on the table. But the butter baked bread was his favorite.

Oh, how he missed home-cooked meals. The afterlife didn't have food. It was a mortal thing. In his opinion bowel movements were worth being able to eat and taste great food.

"Sirius able to clean himself?" Andromeda asked with a skeptical look.

Remus chuckled. "He wasn't doing so well there when I got him stripped and into the bath, but as soon as that water hit him, he realized what was happening and woke up."

"It will be a cold day in hell before I let you wash my privates." Sirius barked as he came into the room. "Didn't stop you from waiting outside the door though."

Remus just chuckled.

Sirius was wearing fresh clothes, cleaned up from all the dirt and grim, a towel hanging over his tangled wet hair. Feeling like a million galleons already just from being able to bathe properly. Before he sat down to help himself to wonderfully smelling food, he looked at the elder couple. "I take it that you two are in the know?"

They nodded.

"Are you okay with this?"

Andromeda stood and pulled Sirius into a tight hug. "Not only are we okay cousin, but we are also determined to help you and the rest of our growing family in any way that we can."

"What she's not saying, and I should warn you about so you don't do anything stupid, like try to stop her, is we were potioned and compulsed to forget and move on with our lives without question." Ted said looking at Sirius with a friendly smile. Sirius on the other hand, already figured out who did it and was furious. Then looked mortified realizing what he wasn't supposed to stop when the time came. Ted was satisfied that his message got across. "Eat, rest, and take the time to get healthy. I'm working on your case to get your name cleared, but I'm sure as you know, we have to wait for the right time."

Sirius nodded as he sat down and began to build his plate. He wanted to gather up as much as possible so he could wolf everything down like the starving creature he was. Going back for seconds and thirds before stopping. But, knowing from previous experience, it was better to take it a little at a time and let his body tell him when to quit.

So he made a decent plate and ate everything at a slower pace. Relieved that he was at least able to get seconds on the rolls and lamb chops before dessert was served. A delicious homemade apple pie with vanilla ice cream. He only managed one helping of that before his stomach felt like it was about to burst.

No words were spoken during dinner, they just ate their fill. Only Andromeda and Ted were surprised by Sirius's silence, calm demeanor, and careful eating. If there was ever proof of the changes taking place, it was right there. Sirius, ever the man child, was acting mature and level headed. Even in the two lives they were shown, Sirius was ever the man child, and it led to his death. Grant it, likely outside factors were exasperating the problem, but the fact remained, Sirius was never the responsible one.

Remus and Nym left the room as soon as dinner was finished. They made claims of being knackered, and they certainly looked it, but Sirius wasn't going to comment on what else he suspected they would get up to. He knew better than to make such comments in front of Andie, even before his deaths. He also knew Ted also had a protective streak and temper when it came to his daughter's safety and person.

Sirius's personality had undergone a drastic change in the afterlife. Oh, he still loved pranks, and thought the world needed a better sense of humor; but in no way shape or form was it alright to provoke the father of a daughter who was a grown woman and making grown-up woman decisions.

Nym, Lily, Mia, _and_ Mal, took the time to drill into his head what would happen if he didn't quell those parts of his personality. The women were bad enough, but Remus, James, Monty, Gabriel, Michael, Satan, and Julian, with Ares leading the pack, all voiced their sentiments which echoed the women's.

All forcing him to realize to really change the future, Sirius needed to be level headed and calm. If he was going to get a leg up in society again, if he was going to fool Dumbledore and get out of from under the old man's crooked thumb, Sirius would need to be what he had dreaded becoming. He would need to be cold, cruel, and ruthless, just as his grandfather had. Just as any Lord Black needed to be. It was the only way for him to be taken seriously in the difficult times that lay ahead and sway the public and dark faction to the side of the gray. Against Dumbledore and Voldemort.

They showed Sirius, the other option was to keep denying that part of himself and end up dead like before. Because in his desperation to not be a Black, he opened himself to be controlled then easily manipulated. Sure, if they sat down and thought it through, there were other ways, but as Mal and Ares pointed out, they had neither the time or the freedom to sit and come up with a better strategy.

Now the old Sirius, and likely any who witnessed or knew what they said in the afterlife, would think that they were trying to push Sirius into not being himself. He understood now that it was the opposite. They were urging him to not deny that part of himself. He was smarter, stronger, and more capable than the lives he lived led others to believe. He knew there were a time and a place for pranks and teasing. He also knew the lines that he shouldn't cross with various people.

How many times had he crossed that line the past? The fact that there were too many to count, brought home the realization that Sirius needed. They were right.

Already he could see, and feel the benefits. Rather than ignore Nym and Remus to see Ares with his own eyes, he trusted his godson and came to a safe location before Dumbledore or his lackeys found him. Which they would have, and he realized this. He was far weaker in this life than he'd been in the last two because of the beatings he endured.

Another thing was how he ate his meal. Patiently and with care, allowing others to see him as he was. A weak and sick man freshly escaped from prison. Where before, he would do all he could to play up the brave face and go as far as to break his leg to prove he was fine.

His silence was also one. Rather than be spitting mad, and asking questions, making threats, and plans to go out and get revenge before getting his godson back, Sirius was silent. He sat still, allowed Andie to scan him thoroughly before going over his treatments with her and why certain ones were needed. Before he could do anything, Sirius needed to heal his broken and battered body, and he acknowledged that.

As Andromeda was going over the medical aspect of Sirius's situation, Ted set to work on Sirius's case, working on the best way to approach this and was even considering going to the Goblins to get some more information and hopefully some answers to questions. Though there was always the chance of walking away with more questions than he did answers.

Andromeda was busy working on the potions for Sirius and everyone else. It was a relieved Sirius who found out from her that Remus didn't need anything in the way of health potions. This new werewolf thing was working better than either of the old Marauders realized. The only thing Remus needed was the flush of the potions in his system that would make him Dumbledore's slave even in the wake of the old man's death.

Sirius however, was in for a long summer. He was fine with that though. As Ares said, first, they needed to get themselves in fighting condition, then, they would begin tackling the bigger issues.

There were no words that could describe how happy he was as he laid into bed to sleep not long after the examination. He was sleeping in an actual bed, after being bathed for the first time in years. He was safe with his family, and it would be expanding sooner rather than later. He was far safer here than he had ever been back when he was being "helped" by Dumbledore.

As he drifted off to sleep, he smiled.

Things were already changing. Big changes. His personality changes didn't even register on the map by comparison. And their enemies weren't even aware of how significant these changes were. For the first time in his mortal lives, Sirius had hope.

He grinned realizing he probably wasn't the only one who felt this way either.

 **}TLCW{**

Narcissa Malfoy woke with a gasp, jumping up in her bed, soaked with perspiration. The nightmare she just had was far too vivid to be simply that. Before she could even catch her breath, she felt something stirring next to her. She was always alone in her bed in the past, that something was there now was not a good sign. More than a little fearful she looked down, expecting an enemy, but instead found a small body in the bed next to her. Carefully removing the blankets, she saw a beautiful baby girl with her pale blonde tresses, but falling in soft spiral curls that could not be found in any Black or Malfoy daughter.

Bella might have been the exception, only her hair was magically altered after she married Lestrange. He didn't like straight hair apparently, and thick wavy hair the Black daughters tended to have wasn't up to his taste. He preferred curly hair for whatever reason, and it was never explained.

Looking around with sleepy eyes, Narcissa saw the baby girl had piercing ice-blue eyes. She had never seen such eyes in Wizarding Britain before and was started by them. She was startled by the whole situation in general. Where had this child come from, and why was she in Narcissa's bed?

When the baby girl looked up at Narcissa, she smiled brightly, a smile full of love and trust. A smile that children always gave their mothers, and one that Narcissa had seen many times before, but only one soul ever aimed it in her direction: her son, Draco.

"Mama!" The baby girl's voice giggled. Soft toned, but full of life, love, and happiness.

Narcissa could only stare back at the girl in shock and confusion, there was no denying that this girl was her child, but how?

"Mama?" The girl asked confused, and again, Narcissa couldn't move.

Tears filled the girl's eyes, and her lower lips trembled, "Mama?"

Still, Narcissa was frozen. It wasn't until the girl began to cry heartbroken that something clicked in Narcissa's mind. A lump formed in her throat, as tears fell from her own eyes.

Without hesitation, Narcissa snatched the child up and hugged the tiny thing very close to her heart. The baby, did the same in return, tears turning into sniffles before stopping completely, snuggling in close, whispering "mama, love you," over and over before falling back asleep.

All the while seemingly unaware of Narcissa's breakdown.

Though, perhaps the child's whispers were meant as a form of comfort. Perhaps the child had been aware of Narcissa's inner turmoil, stranger things had happened where magic was involved.

This child, was one year old Zelena Juliet Malfoy. Narcissa's daughter; carried under her heart for nine months before being born bright and healthy. Born at dawn after a full day and night of painful labor, Zelena was born as the sun shined into the room, bathing Narcissa's soaked weak body and the newborn, as her wails echoed in the air.

Narcissa almost named the girl Aurora because of that, but the name was far too light side for Lucius to ever allow. Zelena however, was derived from Selēnē, which meant "the moon". It wasn't a constellation, but it was still a part of the cosmos. That, Lucius had no problem with as it fell along the lines of the Black family tradition of naming their children after constellations. It skidded the line a bit, but it passed.

Along with Draco, Zelena was the brightest light and source of hope for Narcissa in these dark days. They were both the only things that gave her the strength to get up in the morning.

Only, Zelena wasn't Lucius's child.

Three life time's worth of memories were in Narcissa's head. Memories of two previous lives had appeared as nightmares before she woke, and caused Narcissa's rather rude awakening at three in the morning. Disturbing Zelena's sleep, and what caused Narcissa's momentary lapse in remembering she even had a daughter.

As she moved to the rocking chair, wrapping one of the many baby blankets laying around the room onto Zelena to keep her warm, Narcissa sat in the old rocking chair in front of the window and rocked her baby gently. This had become routine for her back when Draco was young, and now it was a habit again with Zelena. When Narcissa couldn't sleep but needed to think, she rocked in the chair watching the sky change. It also allowed her to keep her baby close to her heart as she did.

Narcissa used this time to go over the memories that were in her mind.

Immediately, Narcissa moved the memories behind a special barrier that no one could get past unless they were trained by a Black in occlumency. Her husband, for all of his power, could never master the skill or its counterpart Legimency. So she was safe in the knowledge that at least for the time being, all of her secrets and these memories were hidden and would not get back to the darker forces of Magical Britain.

In the first lifetime, she had been a willing Death Eater and supported the cause avidly right up until her son was put on the chopping block because of his father's many mistakes. Draco, not seeing the task for the trap that it was, foolishly and willing bet his life on its succession or failure. Nothing Narcissa said could stop the deal, and Lucius, the coward and rotten bastard that he was, refused to help his son. Choosing instead to save himself for the time being and come up with a plan that would save his life should Draco fail.

As time went on, realization dawned on Draco that he could and would die if he failed, saw the systematic breaking her precious son. He was tortured many times for not getting the job done fast enough, he was beaten, and her life was threatened on more than one occasion because of that mission.

Even then, Lucius kept his silence in the presence of the Dark Lord, only helping so far to lend the funds necessary for the assignment because he was ordered to. Narcissa was the one that helped their son get the books and the materials needed to do the job and get it done right. Not that her boy ever knew. Lucius, of course, took credit for her work.

Even before that point, Narcissa had already done the unthinkable and betrayed the Dark Lord by way of an unbreakable vow with Severus to finish what Draco could not before Draco even left for Hogwarts.

After that, it came as second nature to her, and she committed even more betrayals against the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord. Going so far as to make sure that Potter escaped from their manor. She also warned whoever she could about the impending Death Eater raids. She also allowed several muggleborns safe passages to the muggle side of London. Not that they knew it was her, and the Death Eaters were never the wiser about her treacherous actions.

Once Draco's life was put in danger, her motherly instincts kicked in. There were no lines she didn't cross, she did whatever she felt she had to in order to protect her son. Saving any child, she could along the way.

She damned Bellatrix, and anyone else, who got in her way. Mostly though, it was Bellatrix. Who claimed long and loud that if she was lucky enough to have a child, she would have made certain that said worshipped the Dark Lord as obsessively as she did. She would have encouraged her child to die for the cause if that's what the Dark Lord demanded.

How any mother would encourage that was beyond Narcissa, and she was grateful that Bellatrix never did have children. The way she encouraged Narcissa to praise Draco and let him eventually die if the Dark Lord commanded infuriated her. If Molly Weasley hadn't taken the bitch out, Narcissa certainly would have. Gladly.

When the war was over, Narcissa willingly threw Malfoy under the ax and let him take the fall for everything. Suffering in Azkaban was better than killing the bastard outright.

The second lifetime, she hadn't taken the mark. Apparently having learned her lesson from her first life. She also, again having learned from the first life, didn't hold to the Pureblood bigotry, but she also wasn't stupid enough to say so when surrounded by those of the Dark factions.

All she had wanted to do was protect Draco and hoped that he would become a better man than Lucius. Although the boy was a little clone of his father after he became a teenager. Narcissa's actions during that war were the same, but more pronounced in the fact that she saved more lives than she had before and also warned Dumbledore of the impending attack. Only for the man to do nothing to stop it.

She didn't learn until after the war, while her son was in St. Mungo's, exactly what lengths Lucius went to ensure Draco was on Lucius's side through it all. Ultimately twisting their brilliant and beautiful son into a clone of his father. It might have worked too if Draco hadn't been fighting against it his whole life. The persona that Lucius instilled in Draco's mind went against everything that Draco was. It was Draco's internal struggle that caused the boy to be loud, obnoxious, and fail at every task he was given.

Through the use of Occlumency done by a mind healer, the spells were reversed, and Draco came back into himself.

Lucius had tried to kill the boy that was her son. He knew it and didn't care in the slightest. Just like marrying her for was money and power, not love, he didn't care about the son he was raising. He wanted the Malfoy family legacy to carry on as it was, as Lucius has from his father. He wanted an heir that was exactly like him, a clone of Lucius as Lucius had been a clone of Abraxas, Lucius's father. Lucius's thoughts had been, if Narcissa couldn't birth him one (as she had been poisoned into being sterile not long after Draco's birth), he would alter the one they had to ensure he got the son he wanted.

All of this happened before Lucius could be arrested and sent to Azkaban for his crimes against magical Britain. She killed him before the DMLE could levy the charges against him. She willingly went to the prison for her crime, in a minimal security wing, and was out in under five years. Draco was left to deal with the mess that was left behind, and he did so with grace. Showing proof of his father's crimes, proof of what was done to him, and confessing to his own. He paid the fines, and due to the nature of the murder and the reasons behind it, Narcissa was given a light sentence. Allowing her to be there when her grandchildren were born.

This lifetime, however, wasn't playing out like the others. Already there were key differences.

She never took the Dark Mark as she hadn't in the second life. In the first life, Narcissa firmly believed and joined the Death Eaters cause. In the second life, she still held onto the traditions leaving out the bigotry but left her skin unblemished by the mark so she could still walk around society without being scrutinized by light extremists. In this third life, she held no love or respect for the way Wizarding Britain was currently. She had firmly come to believe that people were people, and traditions were nice, but when people clung to them so narrowly that those traditions dictated how they lived their lives with no room for change, they missed out on so much.

Narcissa was now similar to Andromeda's and Sirius's beliefs. But beliefs like that were hazardous in the Black household. A prime example being Sirius and Andromeda and what happened to them when Walburga found out. So Narcissa, in fear of being hurt, or worse, killed by Walburga, never said a word about her true thoughts.

In this life, Lucius never required her to put on airs, unless it was to impress the Ministries higher-ups or other members of the "upstanding citizens" of the Wizarding World. Meaning, unless they were in front of the people Lucius had power over or wanted to have power over, she was to be silent and leave him alone.

In the first life, it hadn't exactly been a marriage of equals, but she had willingly gone to bed with him. But there was mutual respect between the two of them and they cared for each other's wellbeing most of the time. She would have birthed him more children, but they were never blessed with another. Until the Dark Lord returned, then all of that changed. Down spiraling into the end she'd already gone over.

In the second, she hadn't been forced to marry Lucius, she chose him. The lesser of two evils as the saying went. She was still a dutiful and loyal wife, as the old ways demanded, and did as he commanded, most of the time. Though, when Draco was born, she had nothing to do with him physically. The "poisoning" had been of her own doing, rendering her sterile so she wouldn't have to have Lucius in her bed ever again.

In this life, it would seem that she wasn't the only one who got smarter. In this life, she didn't want Lucius and fought to marry another man. But her father wouldn't sway from his choice. In the end, Narcissa was bound by contract to give herself to Lucius at least once a month, unless he said otherwise. Further, she was not allowed to take potions that would hinder or alter her ability to bear children. It wasn't specified whether or not that child had to belong to Lucius, just her ability to conceive, carry, and birth a child.

It was inconceivable that a pureblood witch such as Narcissa would have an affair. Which is why they didn't bother making the contract specific in who the father of her children should be. It was just accepted that Lucius could be the only possibility.

Other than official events, where she was supposed to walk in on his arm, and the monthly visits to her wing in the Malfoy manner for her "wifely duty", she hardly ever saw her husband other than at the table for breakfast and dinner. Lucius was often so busy with, whatever he was doing all day, that Narcissa was able to do as she pleased a lot of the time. She was able to go out, go shopping, even work a little in some places where she was permitted to by her husband.

It was this little freedom, that allowed Narcissa to create a fund with the Goblins in a secret account, that she labeled her "running away" fund.

She'd taken to having incursions in the muggle world. If she denied Lucius his rights to her body, or put it more simply, if she ran away and never looked back; the marriage contract would have her magic stripped from her. Meaning she would have to live as a muggle, possibly move out of the country even.

She had planned that when it inevitably happened, Draco, and eventually Zelena, could attend a school that wasn't dominated by the children of other Death Eaters, or manipulative old men that labeled them as such, pushing them towards that life before they'd even reached puberty. She would teach them magic from home if it came to that.

It was this little bit of freedom and trips to the muggle realm when she met someone. As a squib from Magical Britain himself, he immediately spotted that Narcissa was close to a breakdown stemming from the culture shock and complete lack of knowledge on how to handle all of it, he kindly offered his assistance. He became a quick and good friend to have. She enjoyed his company a great deal. More so than any other male she'd ever been around. He was a nice man, rather handsome in a rugged sort of way. Though he still wore suits at times, she preferred him in his denim pants and button-down shirts, with that warm smile on his face.

They would sit for tea or coffee, allowing her to ask her many questions after their walks through town, or the ones she obtained after reading several books. He would answer each thing patiently, and with that easy smile, helping her gain the necessary knowledge she'd require to live as a muggle. He even helped her enroll in culinary classes as well, so she could learn how to use the muggle appliances, as well as learn about the different utensils, and what they used for.

One day, many months after their initial meeting, they had sat down for a quiet picnic in a park, and he asked what was Narcissa Malfoy, Pureblood Queen, doing wandering around muggle London.

In a fit of tears, she broke down and told the truth. The whole truth. He understood immediately and began helping her figuring out the muggle world that much faster. So when she ran, nothing would be a surprise. She would be able to navigate and do what she needed to do without issue.

She had already fallen in love with him before that, though she never professed it. Their inevitable affair was brief, but it filled her heart in ways it had never been before. She was loved, and she loved back with everything she could. She was so lost and helplessly in love with the man. She began to imagine taking her son and running away to be with this man.

But magic had other plans.

He had a situation come up that required all of his time and attention, and she told him to go, giving him her blessing. She didn't regret their love, and she didn't regret letting him go. He was needed somewhere else and were she in his shoes, she would have done the same.

Reluctantly, Narcissa went home to Lucius. She kept on her schedules and kept learning more about the muggle world. Now visiting libraries, and studying there. Realizing she'd have to use magic to create everything they'd need documentation wise before she left, or they'd never get anywhere in life.

Perhaps if she had lost her magic by then the Goblins would assist in the endeavor for a little extra gold. She was given a monthly installment from both the Black and the Malfoy vaults. Malfoy took the Black gold while she kept the lesser amount of Malfoy gold. She had taken to putting that into her fund as well recently. She'd use an installment of that to get what she needed if she couldn't create it herself.

Despite her extra time with her lover, she kept up with the demands of the contract. Lucius had come to her each month, as per the demands of the contract. She had put up no fight, no struggle, just let him do his thing and leave. Going behind her occlumency barrier and remembering her time with her lover rather than her husband. It was horrible, she knew, but it got her through what had become marital rape in the eyes of muggle law. Contract or no, that's what it had become. So however much she might have wished otherwise, she had been with both men. Her lover a lot more than her husband.

A few months after her lover's departure, she couldn't ignore the changes in her body any longer and cast that dreaded spell. As she feared, she was pregnant. Of course, Dobby had been ordered to inform Lucius if Narcissa cast that spell, or gave any indication of pregnancy, and he knew mere seconds after she cast the spell. Bursting into her room demanding to know the results.

Lucius had been so pleased when she gave him the positive results. He had all but abandoned Draco in his excitement for another son. He actually did a happy dance that mortified Narcissa in more ways than one.

Narcissa tried, she did, to convince herself that the child was Lucius's, it had to be. But, given the time of conception, it was extremely unlikely to be his.

To know for certain, Narcissa arranged a private meeting with a Goblin healer shortly after the pregnancy was public knowledge, paid for out of her "running away" account, so she could learn the paternity of the father. She provided blood she'd taken from Lucius in secret and the sample that she took in secret from her lover.

Many would say what she did was evil, and the highest level of betrayal, but she had her reasons.

She had stolen from Lucius to test the paternity of the baby. He couldn't know the truth obviously, but she needed to know. She'd taken a sample of her lover's blood the day they became lovers. It was for a measure of safety. She did it so she could add it to the Malfoy Manor wards, which Lucius had no understanding of, so should her affair ever be found out and brought there, the Ministry would be alerted immediately of the kidnapping. What was left, she kept as a jewel in her locket, a memento of the man she loved.

The day she arrived at the bank; she cursed her foolishness. In hindsight, she should have at least suspected this possibility, but it never crossed her mind that she would have to use what was left of his blood this way.

She was told many things that day by the Goblins:

The gender was female.

She was growing well and was perfectly healthy as far as their scans could tell.

She had a strong magical core, even in the womb. Meaning this baby was going to be a very powerful witch.

The baby was not Lucius's child.

When Lucius brought Narcissa for her checkups in the future, she told the healers at St. Mungo's she didn't want to know the gender, as Pureblood tradition states. Everything they told her after that was what she'd already been told by the Goblins. Hearing that the baby had a strong magical core saw Lucius whooping for joy and dancing around like a loon again.

As she expected though, the peace was not to last, and neither was Lucius's good mood.

When the labor pains began, and Lucius was by her side every minute, excited to hold his second son. The private healer, another pureblood, perhaps even a Death Eater for all Narcissa knew, shared in Lucius's shocked and angered reaction to the realization that the baby was a girl.

For the following few days, Lucius sneered at the baby with utter disgust and loathing. A daughter shouldn't have more power than a son. Women were good for breeding, and in some families were welcomed. But when a family had so few males such as the Malfoys, sons were demanded.

Narcissa had been terrified of what Lucius would do to her precious baby girl from the day she discovered the truth. Her daughter was conceived and born out of love, not power, or political gain. She wasn't going to allow Lucius to harm her baby. So Narcissa had the nursery moved into her room the second night of Zelena's life, and had all kinds of wards placed on her bedroom door.

Dobby confirmed that a week after Zelena's birth, Lucius had gone into the nursery and was rather upset that the room was empty. He had tried to get into Narcissa's room, but her wards were more powerful. While Lucius could penetrate the first ones to the second layer, which would alert Narcissa to the attempted break-in, he couldn't dismantle those wards. Thus his attempt went unnoticed until Dobby's report.

Narcissa burst into tears in the present. Zelena's life was in danger. Every minute in Malfoy Manor was spent under Narcissa's watchful gaze. When Zelena started to eat solid foods Narcissa had Dobby teach her what to do, even though she already knew how, she had to play as if she was clueless, so she could make certain that her baby wouldn't be poisoned.

One good thing did come out of her husband's anger; Lucius hadn't slept with Narcissa since Zelena was born. His orders were simple, move the girl into her own room, or they wouldn't have a married couple's night again. Lucius looked rather proud and smug when he said that to her. As if he believed Narcissa would bend over backward to be assaulted by him again.

When she refused, rather immediately, happily, and it was obvious that she was, Narcissa was banned from going to balls, or on outings with friends. She was confined to the halls of Malfoy Manor until she caved to her husband's demands. Yet she'd taken each punishment with grace, never complaining.

Lucius grew more and more agitated, the longer Narcissa rejected him, the fouler his mood became. He threatened she would never leave the house again if she didn't obey him. She shrugged and said there wasn't an obedience clause in their contract, and it couldn't be altered now. Still, she'd give Lucius this courtesy, and obey him on this matter.

Oh, that had infuriated Lucius, reminding him he didn't have absolute control over her. Furthermore, her obeying him was merely because she chose to. Calling it a courtesy made it all the worse. Better yet, Lucius couldn't say or do anything about it as the Minister was currently in the next room.

It had been a secret, what was happening between them, and with the public well aware of the Malfoy daughter, it was expected that they would be seen. People at first just thought that Narcissa and the baby wanted to stay at home until they were certain that the baby was strong enough to handle being around strangers and not get ill. However, weeks went by, then months, and still no Narcissa.

After four months, Lucius was questioned as to why his wife wasn't being seen around like normal. By this time with Draco, his picture had been all over the Prophet and everyone had seen him in Diagon Alley. What was happening the Malfoy household to make things different this time?

Lucius answered them politely at first, then rather harshly, before he stopped answering them at all. He began receiving all kinds of questions about the health of his wife and daughter, he was even asked point-blank by the Wizengamot members, from all faction at that, if they were alright. Lucius held his ground. He would not cave to the public or let his wife win. He was the man of the manor, the Lord. A woman would not best him, certainly not his wife.

In the end, he didn't have a choice. The Prophet printed a scathing article, written by Rita Skeeter, and that was the only time in any of the three lives she'd lived that Narcissa wanted to kiss the harlot. Lucius's past as a Death Eater was once again brought to life, as was his sexist views, calling into question that perhaps he'd killed his wife and daughter. Very few facts were provided, and what was provided, only went to emphasize Skeeter's words and accusations.

Skeeter had done what she does best and had written the article like she wrote all of her articles, to publish dirty laundry, to cause drama, and hook readers for more publicity. Even the Dark Factions feared her articles as she wasn't in it for anyone but herself and a story.

Lucius was prepared to fight this, it was his family, private matters, and he would not dignify anything that was said. He held his ground stubbornly, refusing to admit defeat.

For the second time, the Wizengamot called him out on the lack of sightings of Narcissa, and the as of yet to be seen daughter. He was prepared to argue, but when he was threatened with the invasion of the DMLE to check on the well being of his wife and daughter, he was forced to admit defeat internally. The home arrest was lifted and Narcissa was able to venture out once more.

It went without saying that during those brief outings after Lucius gave his permission, that she always took Zelena with her, and he always looked so furious when she did. She knew he wouldn't kill the girl right away, but he always had something up his sleeve, and he needed access to her daughter to do it. She wasn't going to give him that power.

As a result, from all of her worrying and outmaneuvering Lucius, Narcissa had to wear a glamor at all times. She was in a permanent state of exhaustion, and it showed under the glamor. But if Lucius knew, he would realize he had the upper hand, and Narcissa would lose Zelena. She was determined to not fail as a mother again.

The sun had risen by the time she was done musing, and Narcissa knew she couldn't stay here anymore. With her condition, and with these two life time's worth of memories, she knew what was coming in Draco's future. She had to leave now, this very day, or it would be too late. It would take some trickery, but she could do it. She had just enough energy, and cunning left for this.

She went down when the call came for breakfast, Zelena close to her at all times. A house elf that was on loan from the Nott's served them, and Narcissa discretely scanned everything before helping her daughter eat as she'd banned from the kitchen. The loaned house elf informed Lucius that Narcissa prepped Zelena's meals, and he hadn't taken that knowledge well.

"Lucius," Narcissa said gently as breakfast went on, "I was thinking about going to stay with Andromeda for a little while, before and after getting Draco off the train. A week, perhaps two at the most. I'm hoping that by spending time with her, and our children getting along, I might be able to convince her to see reason. To agree with your offer."

For the sake of her daughter, Narcissa kept Zelena out of any and all conversations with Lucius.

As for the situation with Andromeda, that was a little more straightforward, and a lot less complicated to understand: Andromeda was in control of the Black Estate, Vaults, and other holdings. Arcturus died a short time ago, and when his will was activated, he had brought Andromeda back into the family, but for one purpose only, to name her Regent. With this, she had the power to sit in the Wizengamot, as well as name and train the next Lord Black.

In the will, it was stated that Narcissa was passed over for the role because of Lucius's blatant greed. If Narcissa became Regent, it was the next logical conclusion that she would name her own son the next Lord Black. Through Draco, Lucius would control and manipulate the Black's fortune and influence to suit his own purposes. It would appear, despite the persona that Lucius projected, Arcturus was well aware of the same things Narcissa was.

Narcissa knew for a fact that Lucius would use everything the Black's had to fund his Pureblood Agenda, and from there, support the Dark Lord upon his return. It was the whole reason he married her after all, there were plenty of other beautiful pureblood witches he could have had on his arm. Far more loyal and willing witches too. Yet he picked Narcissa because she was a Black daughter, and the Black's were the second richest family in Britain, possibly the world.

The first didn't even need to be said. And the name was worse than a taboo in a Death Eater's home, it was blasphemous.

Bellatrix was passed over because of her incarceration in Azkaban, and because the Lestrange's would do the same as Lucius.

He had tried, for years he had tried to get close with Arcturus so that either himself or Narcissa would be named Regent Black upon Arcturus's death. He had thought he succeeded, and yet Lucius was left looking like an over-excited child the day the will was read, only to have it all pass to the last person they expected.

Each attempt that Lucius made in the past to spend time with Arcturus to curry favor ended in a failure that was felt throughout the whole manor. Those nights, Draco could be found curled into his mother sobbing in utter terror. That was when she had started her "running away" vault in this life.

Narcissa wasn't sure what happened to make Lucius believe that he'd get the Regency, but he believed it so firmly that he'd convinced the other Death Eaters of the same. Arcturus's will embarrassed Lucius in a rather unforgivable way.

Narcissa had no proof, but she was certain there were wards that prevented any marked Death Eater from entering the Tonks's home. It would also explain why her sister was still alive as Lucius made no secret of his attempts at having her assassinated. At least under this roof.

The last "hired hand" to attempt it, if she remembered right, was nearly rendered infertile. She couldn't remember if his bits had been cut from his body then had to be reattached/ regrown, or if it was a curse that damaged the bits; but the result, due to the extensive treatment needed to fix the situation, there was an eighty/twenty percent chance that the "hired hand" wouldn't be able to reproduce ever again. The eighty percent being the possibility that he'd be sterile.

Since then, all of the Dark families refused to go against Andromeda personally, or anywhere near her unless they had to. Added to that, all of them had some connection to the Black Family, thus any one of their children could be named the heir. Better to get on Andromeda's good side than try to kill her and have the Goblins lay claim to everything.

Narcissa sat back and focused on Zelena, letting her husband work it out in his mind before saying any more.

Lucius had a marriage contract between Andromeda's daughter Nymphadora, and Draco. Giving the two children the hyphenated name of Malfoy-Black. Even using the Aurors in the DMLE that were sympathetic to the Dark Lord's cause to harass, working up eventually rape Nymphadora so Lucius could swoop in and "save" the day with his contract to Draco.

Narcissa held no doubt that it would still happen and hoped she could somehow spare Nymphadora from that fate just as she was working to save her children. The girl was her niece and family. Even after 3 different lives, it was sickening to know that was common practice for the more vile pureblood males to organize a rape of a prospected betrothed to get a better deal, and/or robbing the family of the girl blind because they failed in "protecting the goods". Narcissa had seen this happen with Pansy Parkinson's mother, as well as a couple of others.

Narcissa fought back tears hoping she wasn't too late to save her niece. If she knew about this and sat on it without informing Andromeda all this time, and Nymphadora was already hurt when Narcissa arrived, then there would be nowhere to turn in the magical world where Lucius would not find her to take his revenge.

Speaking of, Lucius, when she spared him a glance, was deep in thought, she could see it on his face. A passive Legimens prob gave her access to the forefront of his wondering.

That contract was his final play, everything was hinging on its success; there no option for failure. He was working and throwing everything he was into this tactic. He had plans, then back up plans for those plans. It was all written up, with little clauses hidden in fine print that would see to Lucius's victory, and all Andromeda had to do was sign it.

Honestly, if he could marry the metamorph himself and get away with it, he would. Narcissa was already two years remit in her wifely duties, Lucius would have used the prostitutes about Knockturn Alley, but he wasn't into disease, and he couldn't risk his reputation being tarnished by such acts should he be caught. The creature would make a fine bedroom slave for his every whim, he'd thought about altering some things in the contract so he could still get a piece of her.

However, appealing the idea of marrying Nymphadora himself was, he knew Andromeda would never allow her daughter to be a second wife. And it wasn't like Lucius could kill Narcissa to get another wife either. If he did, he would lose all connection to Andromeda and likely be in for more trouble than the satisfaction he would get at ending his pathetic wife's life.

He'd tried everything in the past. Blackmail, assassination attempts, and more, nothing was working. Eventually, he had to stop or lose the Black Fortune forever. Andromeda was a cunning woman, and it was so vexing his fingers itched to grip his wand and curse her for the trouble she caused. If she ever got wind of what he was orchestrating at the DMLE, he could kiss his manhood and arse goodbye. Both his wife and sister in law would make sure he was well and truly de-manned and he could only defecate through a tube. If he survived the encounter at all

He needed that fortune to keep his place as number one among the freed Death Eaters. They had somehow amassed more fortune, and the Malfoy vaults were slowly ticking down as Lucius bought opulent things to prove his wealth and standing to the others when they showed off. He needed that fortune to replenish and raise the standing of the Malfoy vaults, there was also the case if the Dark Lord did return. He'd need that money to appease the Dark Lord and fund the missions he'd planned; else Lucius would be facing a fate worse than death.

His only connection to all of that, however, was his wife. Without her, he'd have nothing left to use as communication to Andromeda, and if anything happened to that creature she called daughter before the initial contract was signed, then it would be his door she broke down first. After a fake contract was signed however, he would swoop in with the real contract, and offer his protection to his future daughter-in-law, and that's when he'd win. He'd have to remember to warn the Auror's to lay off the girl until after the deal was made. Though if Andromeda kept refusing, he might join those fools in teaching both of those women a lesson.

Narcissa pulled back and looked to Zelena knowing he was about to give his answer. Everything in his mind she already knew, and she wasn't surprised by any of it.

"Leave." He said not looking at her, obviously still plotting.

Narcissa fought down her relief, as well her nerves that were bursting at the seams. She was using all of her skills at occlumency to keep calm. "I'll pick up Draco, as I said. Having him around Nymphadora would endear the girl to him. I hear she has such a hard time getting a date." She picked up Zelena and turned so Lucius wouldn't be able to see much of her. "This will also give you the chance to work in peace. I know the Wizengamot work is piling on these days."

He nodded in agreement. "Do so. If things go well and Andromeda wants you to stay for longer, send an owl. I do not wish to be disturbed by floo calls. Whenever you return though, tell Draco come visit me in my office immediately upon his entry into this manor. I must have a serious _discussion_ with him."

Lucius refused to meet his wife's eyes. She was proficient in occlumency, and as he learned, it was a short jump from there to a Legimens master. He didn't need her to see what was in his mind. He had a plan to make the boy see _reason_. It was time to take his role as a scion of the Malfoy family seriously. His childhood was over, it was time that Draco be a man and know what side he stood for. Should the welp prove unwilling, he had a foolproof plan in place to get Draco where he wanted the boy to go.

Narcissa didn't need to look in his eyes to know what he was thinking and planning at that moment. As she walked out of the room, her knowledge from the past two life time's echoed her mind, yes, she already knew what he was going to do. She would fight with every last breath she had to make sure that Lucius never touched their son again.

Locked in her room, she took out a seven-compartment truck, five compartments already packed. Two were to be filled with money, one with galleons, and another with muggle money once she managed to get into Gringotts. The other three were already filled clothes for each of her children, one full of books and toys, the last compartments she loaded her things, clothing, jewelry and the like, along with the last of Zelena's things. In the last, she put all of the documents and other information she had been gathering for years against Malfoy, this manor, and other Death Eater dealings.

The trunk came preinstalled with several expansion charms, feather-light charms, and shrinking charms. Which is how she was able to pack everything into one trunk. She activated the shrinking charms and put it into her pocket feeling only a little weight from it. She then turned and left the room.

She immediately went to the floo and checked to make sure that Lucius and that blasted elf were nowhere near before saying The Leaky Cauldron, and stepping through the flames. Not that Lucius would stop her, he'd likely think that she was getting a present or something to appease Andromeda before arriving there. He'd just monitor the Malfoy vaults to make sure she didn't spend too much.

The floo travel caused Zelena to be cranky when she arrived, but Narcissa managed to calm her easily enough as she made her way into the alley and up to Gringotts. She quickly spotted a free teller and was grateful to recognize the Goblin. Zorm Shieldbreaker was one she'd been working with for a while, as he was the brother to Kearx Shieldbreaker, her account manager of her "running away" vault. A quick word with him saw her going down to the vault in question with Kearx.

"I take it it's time then?" Kearx asked softly once they were safely in the vault.

Narcissa nodded as she took out the trunk and packed up both forms of currency in the proper compartments. "Things have changed, and I can't stay there a moment longer."

"I wish you well Narcissa." Kearx nodded. "I'll do my best on this end to make sure that Lord Malfoy never finds out about this. I've also taken the liberty to examine the marriage contract between the two of you. If there's an escape clause or an out that sees you keeping your magic, I'll find it."

She smiled at him. "Thank you Kearx. You're a wonderful person."

Kearx gave her a friendly grin and a wave as she left him at his office.

She was about to back to the floo in the Leaky Cauldron but thought against it. Andromeda might deny her access with Black's recent escape, which was much earlier than ever before. If Andromeda was harboring the innocent Sirius, the last person she would want showing up there would be Narcissa Malfoy on behalf of Lucius.

Instead, Narcissa left Gringotts and quickly made her way to the apparition point in the Alley. When she arrived at Andromeda's front steps, Zelena was screaming. She didn't like apparating, in fact, the girl hated all form of magical travel. It confused and scared her. While using the floo made her cranky, apparition always resulted in this reaction. Narcissa only used it when she had no other choice.

The screaming immediately brought Nymphadora to the door, with Remus Lupin at her side. It was all the proof Narcissa needed to tell her she wasn't the only one with different memories floating in her head. The physical difference in Remus was even more proof. Gone were the scars and gaunt look; here was a healthy-looking man who took pride in what he was. Not shame, and broken, as the Remus Lupin she'd known.

"You're in danger Nymphadora!" Narcissa already knew this was the first thing she needed to say to get Andromeda on her side. Seeing her niece again, and the woman she was now, Narcissa wanted nothing more than to save her. "Lucius is paying off a bunch of Auror's to harass and eventually assault you!"

Nymphadora snorted. "Should have known it was something along those lines. Dawlish seemed to be a little too eager, and trying too hard." She looked back at Narcissa. "I quit yesterday. Rest assured whatever plots that ponce Malfoy has won't succeed."

 _Thank goodness_. Was all she could think before Narcissa broke down, falling to her knees sobbing like her daughter in her arms. "Please! Please! You have to help me! Draco's in danger!" Zelena's screams became worse as Narcissa broke, drawing the couple's attention to the baby. "This is Zelena, my daughter, Lucius has been trying to kill her since the day she was born! Please! Even if you don't help me, please don't condemn my children to death!"

"Mum!" Nymphadora called before rushing down to help Narcissa inside.

Andromeda took one look at Narcissa's state, and the wailing child in her arms before rushing forward herself. Sirius and Ted stood up as the company came into the living room while Andromeda was issuing orders to the house elf.

Sirius stared dumbstruck at Zelena. Nymphadora took the child and began to soothe the baby as the house elf appeared with calming droughts.

"Zelena can't take that! She's barely a year old!" Narcissa shrieked as Nymphadora took one dose for the baby.

"It's a diluted version for babes." Andromeda said patiently to her sister. "Zelena will be perfectly fine, I swear it on my magic."

There was a flash as magic recognized the vow that Andromeda just made. It was enough that Narcissa stopped fighting, she took the potion and watched with a keen eye as Zelena was given hers. She took a few moments to orient herself after the potion took effect and her body begged her to sleep. While she knew she could trust these people when it came to her safety and her daughters, there was still much to be said.

"Remus, Sirius!" Nymphadora gasped. Both men rushed to her side. "Look!" She ordered as she looked down at Zelena, who stared back up at everyone in scared confusion. She'd never been around so many people. "Tell me those are not the eyes I think they are."

Sirius picked up the babe and looked at her for a long moment. Little tears came from her eyes as she whimpered.

Remus took her then and laid her down in his arms as he rocked her back and forth. "There, there, now little angel, it's alright. There's no need to be scared. We're just surprised to see you is all."

"Who's her father?" Sirius asked hastily as he sat down across from Narcissa.

"Darren. Darren Bones." She said as tears rolled down her cheeks as well. "I've been planning to leave Lucius for years, even if it takes my magic. So he helped me learn how to survive as a muggle. We had an affair. We tried to deny how we felt, we really did. But one day there was a storm, and we got soaked, and then, one thing led to another, and," Narcissa looked up at Zelena before looking back at Sirius.

"I would have left Lucius for him, but he got a call from America. He wasn't even aware he had a daughter till his call. She was greatly abused so he went there to take care of her. I would never have dreamed of stopping him. I just wish I'd grabbed Draco and gone with him when I had the chance! Now he doesn't know that he has another daughter back here! I couldn't risk telling him incase Lucius intercepted the message, and found out Zelena isn't his. He's already been trying to kill her since she was born! I couldn't risk my baby's life on my selfishness!"

"Besides," Narcissa broke down even more, "I feel like I'm no better than Darren's first wife, keeping this secret from him, but I have no choice! Even knowing he'd come running to be with Zelena and me, I couldn't, wouldn't have him abandon his other daughter for us. He deserves so much better than me!"

Even with calming draught in her system, she was still to the point of hysteria.

Thanks to Remus's quick actions, and Nymphadora's that followed, Zelena had fallen asleep in his arms. So the girl was unaware of her mother's state.

"Tell us everything." Andromeda said sitting beside Narcissa, taking her sister's hands in her own. "Don't leave anything out."

So Narcissa did. She bared her soul. About all of the lives she remembered, the lessons she learned in each one, and what she knew was coming. Lucius's plots, as well as her own actions. The reason she was acting so crazy now was for Zelena's safety as well as Draco's. His fate was worse than Zelena's impending death at the end of Lucius's wand.

From there, she was told about what was happening by Remus and Sirius; the newly dubbed Nym was taking of Zelena in the meantime. Narcissa listened intently and took in all of the information she was given. She took the same vow as Andromeda and Ted did before her. Even if it meant she died, she would protect their secrets, and she would protect her expanding family.

She knew what side she was going to choose, and had no qualms making it publicly known.

"What can I do to help?" She asked eager to be of use.

"Take care of your daughter." Remus said handing the now awake, squirming, begging for mama, Zelena back to Narcissa. "I have a feeling you're going to be reunited with your lover very soon."

As Narcissa looked down at her daughter's eyes, remembering that Darren had them too, she smiled. "I hope so. I really hope so. I don't deserve it, but I hope."

She looked up at Ted, taking her trunk out of her pocket. "In the first compartment, you'll find all of the information I've been able to gather since I've been married to Lucius."

Sirius grinned vicious, causing Zelena to cower into Narcissa. "Oh, Cissy dear, you have no idea how happy that makes all of us. But I have a feeling, that information is not meant for Ted here, wonderful though he is."

"Then who?" Narcissa asked confused.

"You said his name is Darren Bones, and that he was a squib. Any relation to a certain head of the DMLE that we know of?" Remus grinned as Narcissa's mouth dropped. He then chuckled as Zelena giggled. "I think your information is destined to stay within the family, so to speak."

Despite the situation, Narcissa managed to rest and sleep that night. With Zelena sleeping in her own bed for the first time, that Bindy brought in for her. Before Narcissa could explain that Zelena slept with her, Bindy had the bed all set up, and Zelena wanted to sleep in her "pretty bed". It was still in the same room as Narcissa at least, which gave Narcissa peace of mind.

Feeling safe for the first time since her early childhood.

Over the coming days, Narcissa rested and took the potions that Andromeda gave her so she could heal her body. Nym and Remus practiced for their impending years as parents by taking care of Zelena so Narcissa could recuperate. Time passed quickly, and soon, Hogwarts was ending for the summer and the train was on it's way back.

 **}TLCW{**

Amelia finally sat down in her chair and rubbed at her temples. Resisting the urge to break out the fire whiskey so early in the day. And what a day it had been. It started with Moody's retirement; them working to make sure all of the paperwork was filed properly before he left with the necessary documents that assured him his pension would be paid on time and his Auror reserve paperwork, only to be called in if the situation met his specifications.

They sat to enjoy a leisure conversation after he announced his retirement in the bullpen. Said conversation was then interrupted when Nymphadora Tonks burst in and shouted she quit.

Shocked, didn't cover Amelia's reaction. Heartbroken, didn't cover Moody's reaction.

Auror Tonks wouldn't have quit so suddenly, there had to be something serious going on for her to quit. What they learned both from her memory, and what Tonks said as well, it would seem that her quitting was inevitable. Moody's last student and the most promising Auror that Amelia had seen in ages was forced into this position, and the treatment she endured was horrid.

She knew the girl had suffered abuse while here, she thought it was because of her natural abilities and people's bigotry. To learn such blatant criminal activity was going on in the DMLE was sickening.

As if that wasn't bad enough, she learned yet another boundary that Dumbledore had overstepped. It wasn't his job to push carriers; it was the professor's jobs to help students' study what they wanted and help them find a carrier that matched their skill set. Susan had written home how Dumbledore was already attempting to do the same with her and Neville. Even though Neville was a natural Herbologist.

Amelia had always known what she wanted to be, and despite Susan's assurances that she was looking into her options, Amelia knew that her niece wanted the same carrier as Amelia. At least for a little while. If she couldn't become an Auror, she wanted to become a lawyer. It was just a matter of using these years at Hogwarts to figure out which one she would prefer.

To have a career forced upon you, one that you didn't want, Amelia was furious with Dumbledore. Forcing a person to be an Auror was just as bad as forcing Amelia to accept candidates for the DMLE that had no business being there because of who they were related in the Ministry and/or Wizengamot. It was infuriating that the DMLE was being dragged down to this level. They could blame Amelia all they wanted, but she was the only thing that kept this department from falling into utter chaos.

Utilizing the situation, Amelia proceeded to tear Scrimgeour, who was after her position and made no secret of it, down to size. His attempts at blackmail and humiliating her failing completely as she wielded her weapons of truth, and evidence. Okay, perhaps she hadn't 100% truthful, but it wasn't like Moody wasn't going to admit that the later documents of Tonk's statements were slightly forged in the fact that Tonks hadn't been interviewed under Veritaserum, but unlike Dawlish, Amelia trusted that when Tonks said something, it was the truth. It helped that her memory backed everything that Tonks said.

When Dawlish was finally roused from the sleep, they had to put him under to treat him, Aurors were guarding him. Dawlish mistakenly had thought they were there to protect him from the bitch that attacked him. When Amelia herself came in, he demanded Tonks be arrested for attacking him.

Amelia surprised him by slapping magical suppression cuffs on him. He was shocked, and as expected, outraged. Then Amelia explained about Tonk's memory admitted as evidence, and her statement. Dawlish paled and paled the more Amelia said. She couldn't fire Aurors during a crisis unless she could prove in the Wizengamot that they committed a crime. She had more than enough evidence now.

He barely managed to say Scrimgeour, when Amelia shut him down saying that he was forced to back down when presented the evidence as well as the fact that Regent Black and Attorney Tonks were Tonks parents. They'd already been in contact and demanded that Dawlish be dealt with. Was there anything he wished to say on his behalf?

Amelia managed to have it all before the Wizengamot before they left for the evening. Dumbledore didn't even question it. He allowed Dawlish to be fired. Amelia didn't mention that Tonks had quit. She decided she'd confirm it when it was discovered and she was questioned about it.

The day ended with Moody's leaving the DMLE, Tonks quitting, and Dawlish being fired.

With those issues resolved, Amelia raised her head and looked over the information regarding their current priority case: The escape of Sirius Black.

She did her best to ignore the pain in her heart, and the engagement ring that was sitting in her jewelry box under a Notice Me Not charm on her bureau back at home. He was a mass murder, the betrayer of the Potters, the reason they were dead and Harry was an orphan.

It was a widely accepted fact that he escaped to go after the young Potter heir, to finish what his Master started. Dumbledore was the one who made the claim, Fudge and the Wizengamot merely echoed it. There was no doubt for everyone else, Dumbledore's word was golden, if he said it, then it was true. Even if there was nothing in the way of proof

Sirius Black was going after Harry. No if ands or buts about it.

But something about that line of thinking bothered her.

Why now? After all of these years, why now?

Black was in the unique position in the Potter's lives to have more information than any of the Wizarding World did. He would have known where the boy ended up. If that was the case, Black would have escaped Azkaban while he was in far better health and gone after the boy when he was but a babe in his crib. Far easier prey than a boy of nearly thirteen with two year's worth of education under his belt. No contest to be sure, but there would still be a struggle. One that Ministry could detect and track.

No, that wasn't the angle. Amelia was sure of that. So why escape besides the obvious? And why only him?

He had Bellatrix Lestrange just one cell down, as Voldemort's strongest and most lethal supporter, she would have helped him immensely. They could have escaped together and go hunt down the remains of their former master. Either resurrecting him or continuing his work.

Yet, Bellatrix remained. Unusually silent these past few years, and being a pureblood, Amelia couldn't question the witch under Veritaserum. Getting information out of her proved fruitless.

So how did Black escape? Why didn't he take help if he was a Death Eater? Why wasn't he getting help from his fellow Death Eaters?

If Black was among the Death Eater ranks, and he escaped, he would be more valuable alive, as he would have more claim to the Black Estate than Andromeda. The Dark side could drain all of the wealth from Andromeda and the Goblins wouldn't assist the Wizengamot in finding out how.

Dumbledore even allowed the Dementors to leave the Island Azkaban and approved the kiss on sight order if captured.

Both Light and Dark sides wanted Black dealt with. Which never happened, unless one side knew something the other didn't. Usually, it was the Dark side wanting a threat to them taken care of, and the Light side unwittingly gave them what they wanted.

Yet Black was public enemy number one all the way around.

So many why's, how's, and more, but no answers that Amelia could find. No matter how long she sat on it, no matter how many decanters of fire whiskey she drank.

There wasn't even a note or a hint. Nothing that warned them of this, or his plans.

The last time they at least had him saying "He's at Hogwarts! He's at Hogwarts!"

"Wait . . . last time?" Amelia whispered as she followed that line of thought.

Her eyes went wide, she jumped to her feet only for her body to convulse as she fell to the floor. She laid there for several moments shaking uncontrollably as memories entered her mind.

She got the feeling, if she just stopped struggling and trying to analyze the influx of memories looking for an intruder, she wouldn't be in this position. But she wasn't built like that, so she fought.

Her first thought was a Legimens attack, but there wasn't another consciousness connected to her own. There wasn't another being flowing all of this into her mind from another place in the Ministry.

As the influx ended, she waited for commands from an invisible master and the feeling of euphoria one would expect from an Imperius curse. Her last theory as to what just happened.

Nothing. Just her, on the floor, and those two life time's worth of memories.

Realizing she wasn't being attacked, she got up carefully, very aware of the tenderness in her limbs and joints. She locked down her office for the second time that day. She would need the privacy for protection and to settle things in her turmoiled mind.

Sitting at her desk once more, all of the Black case was set aside as fresh parchment, ink, and a quill found their way into her grasp. She then wrote. Anything and everything she could think of. The two different lifetimes. The dark Forces in each. The future occurrences that were unavoidable.

She had no way of knowing in that moment in time that she wouldn't be the first to do so or the last.

After all of that was finished, she wrote about her memories from this life and everything it entailed.

Then, she began to analyze the differences between the two past lives, and the current one she was living.

She and Susan weren't the last of the Bones family anymore. She had a squib brother, and he had a daughter who was as much of a witch as her and Susan.

Amelia couldn't help but smile as tears threatened to fall with great happiness. She wasn't alone anymore, Susan wasn't alone anymore. They had more family.

Amelia's, Edgar's and Darren's parents wanted him to have the best chance at a decent life, as he was a squib, the magical world was very limited, even denied him in a lot of places. So Darren went to school in the muggle world, while Amelia and Edgar attended Hogwarts. Though Darren still insisted on learning everything about the magical world he could. He learned the most from their parents, with Amelia and Edgar adding to it when they could.

When Darren was finished with the mandatory schooling in his childhood, he decided his time and energy were better spent in the muggle world for work. With Magical Britain's work for squibs being non-existence/ pitiful, he stood a better chance at a worthwhile career in the muggle world. So with full family support and funding, Darren went to muggle university where he pursued a field called programming or was it coding? Or something else altogether? Whatever it was, he was very successful in his chosen field and in a span of a few years, he'd amassed the same amount of the wealth on his own that the Bones family had taken generations to amass.

He was picked up by a firm right out of university and worked there ever since. His work, and being such a valued employee, he was able to work from home, the office, or anywhere in the world, he wanted. Darren only had to show up for the mandatory meets. Darren joked it was the only job he knew of where he could get paid for working while at the beach sipping on a pint. The wealth was nice, but her brother enjoyed the fulfilling work and freedom his job allowed him.

Darren had done very well for himself over the years, and before their deaths, Amelia knew their parents were very proud of him. He was far better, and happier, working in the muggle world than he would in the Wizarding World. Magical Britain, especially the Purebloods, would never believe how well Darren was doing unless they saw it for themselves. Even then, there would be denial, and screaming that Darren's earnings should be taken from him and given to the Wizengamot.

 _Translation_ : a squib can't be seen as being more successful than a Pureblood in any world, and the Dark Family's wanted more money, they didn't care if they had to steal it. Squibs had next to no rights, so it wouldn't be stealing in their minds.

Something that filled Amelia with even more pride in her family.

The Bones family, unlike many other Pureblood families, didn't kick Darren out upon discovery he was a squib. Nor did they wipe his memory and deposit him in the muggle world to fare for his own. They kept him, they raised him. They let him experience both worlds and allowed him to choose for himself what he wanted. It wasn't a hard choice for Darren in the end, and their parents supported him, visited him, and celebrated his accomplishments with him. They were there for him when he fell and helped him rise again.

Amelia loved her brother very much. Tears ran down her face as the feelings and memories with this brother played through her mind and her heart. How they grew up together till she parted for Hogwarts, how he was always excited and happy during the summers they spent together. The visits they made as a family to the muggle world, then Amelia alone to see him when she missed him. It was very real, just as the other memories were real. So far, she much preferred this life. If she was to embrace one of the lives with open arms, it would be this one, with her baby brother, and second niece.

During the last war, their parents urged Darren to take that position in America when his company was opening up a branch there. As a child of the Bones family, a squib especially, he was a prime target for the Death Eaters. Everyone wanted Darren safe, just as he wanted them safe. Reluctantly, he went. One, it was a great job opportunity, and two, he realized his family was right. Darren couldn't really fight this war or protect himself against the magic the Death Eaters wielded, but his family could. If anything happened to them, it would up to Darren to keep the Bones family name alive.

Because Darren was going the muggle way and living as a muggle, there was no need to alert the MACUSA, except to tell them that he was there. Amelia's parents used a friend in the MACUSA to get the information on file and the status approved, but otherwise, no notice went out and no one in magical Britain was aware there was a squib son of the Bones family in America.

Darren lived in America relatively content, and didn't even have to come back to Britain for the business meetings, they were able to do all of that from America's headquarters. But in Darren's letters, he wrote how he missed home and his family. He returned when their parents were killed, to help with the funeral arrangements and grieve with the family. Then again when Edgar and his wife were killed. The glares from the other purebloods and free walking Death Eaters didn't go unnoticed and were largely ignored. After the war was over, he moved back home, and never looked back at America again.

Until recently that is.

During his time in America, Darren had a brief marriage to a pretty muggle woman. Amelia had attended the service and wished Darren all the best in the world. However, the woman turned out to be crazed and from a family that were religious fanatics, as Darren put it. The way he explained it; they were the kind of people that put witches to the stake to burn.

This was discovered after the honeymoon when Darren eventually told his wife the truth about his family, and the potential for any of their children to be born magical. His wife had a violent reaction and the MACUSA had to step in and obliviate his wife and her family members of the truth of magic before it got out of control. Darren promptly left her the next morning and filed for divorce. The wife fought the divorce in the beginning, as it was against her religious beliefs. However, after a few months, the divorce went through and was finalized rather quickly.

Darren argued that he had to leave for his own safety. Something Amelia didn't fault him for, even to this day. They wondered why his ex-wife was suddenly okay with the divorce, but they never asked, and they didn't find out until almost two years ago. His ex-wife had since claimed that she never told him or the lawyers about it because she was afraid that Darren would take her daughter and disappear as he had shortly after their marriage without an explanation.

When it all came to light, and he was notified about his daughter, Darren immediately left for America again. Upon finding out from the muggle authorities and the MACUSA that his daughter had been abused, Darren had been fighting for custody ever since.

There was no way to simply take the girl and obliviate everyone who knew of her. There were far too many people involved, and by the time Darren was notified about his daughter's existence, it had become a very public case. So they had to do things the muggle way for this one. It was a slow, painstaking process as the crazed muggles with their deadly religion were fighting to get the girl back.

Apparently, the muggle system in America allowed abusers to keep trying to get custody of their child until they eventually won. Claiming they were changed, and that they truly loved their child or children that were taken from them. There was more but Amelia would lose what little stomach contents she had if she kept with that line of thought.

Amelia was assured by the MACUSA that it was only, the cult as they coined the crazed muggles, trying to get the custody. The mother didn't really want her back. Given what they already knew about what happened to the girl, that's the part that worried them the most.

To keep the girl safe, and to be fair during the trial proceedings, the MACUSA currently had custody of the girl, and they admitted that they completely refused to give the girl over to the cult. Darren was the only legally parent the MACUSA recognized. Until it was all over, however, they had to keep her: so they wouldn't be seen as playing favorites, even if that's actually what they were doing; and so the cult wouldn't gain temporary guardianship through the muggle system and disappear with the girl.

As a result, Darren spent most of his time over the last couple of years in America to be near his daughter. He wanted to get to know her and let her know that she had a father who loved her very much and give her all of the things he hadn't been able to before.

The MACUSA were closely monitoring the situation and helping wherever they could. Even though this was a muggle case, they were manipulating things from the shadows to make sure the muggles weren't granted back custody of the girl during the trial proceedings, but that was all they had been given clearance for. The muggle system and a few compulsion charms on the judges kept the case open and needing to be revisited after a period of time.

Today was supposed to be the day that the courts made the final decision in regards to Amelia's other niece.

Up until Black's escape, which Amelia now realized was inevitable, she had been helping Darren as much as she possibly could with his case. Much to her surprise, then her deeper realization that it really wasn't a surprise, Fudge and the Wizengamot had been helping as well. She beseeched them almost two years ago to help the MACUSA with their case about her niece. Yes, it exposed her squib brother was still alive and well, when most believed he hadn't survived the war, but it was for the sake of her niece.

They had surprisingly, overlooked the squib brother for now, and focused all of their attention on the girl. It was several days before Amelia realized why that was. It was yet another daughter to the Ancient and Noble House of Bones. Amelia was already bombarded with marriage contracts begging for Susan in various ways. Many of them dark families as well as wealthy light families, a few from the gray faction surprised her, but she declined them all in the end. Another Bones daughter would see them all seeking betrothal contracts more eager than ever.

All of that, combined with the work on the Black case, is why Amelia was left alone today. It was also why Moody's retirement paperwork was filed without a complaint or a silent call to Fudge or Umbridge. All of the attention was focused on two things: News about the escaped Sirius Black, and the final results of the custody battle for her niece, Mallory Anne Bones. Or Mal, as the girl preferred to be called.

Still, the sheer amount of support and space Amelia was being awarded today, especially with the priority case, astounded her. She was grateful, as she was able to use this time to wrap her mind around everything.

She began to tap her foot in anticipation.

If Darren won, they were going to disappear within the MACUSA's custody for a time before bringing her niece to Magical Britain. The Wizengamot was so keen to get this result that they even offered the use of Minitrial funds if necessary, so the girl could be "returned" to them and her own kind.

Fanciful stories were flying through the media about her niece, and someone, she was pretty sure it was Skeeter had snapped the first picture of the girl after the news came to the Wizengamot that Mal existed and featured it on the front-page news of the Prophet. With long dark hair and bright eyes, the Prophet was calling her the prettiest witch of her age. Amelia wondered if they knew how true that was. Amelia had certainly never seen a more lovely girl.

The picture showed Mal answering a call from someone behind her, causing her to turn and hair to fall over her shoulder as she did. Smiling brightly at the camera before the image replayed the scene. Of course, when questioned, the two guardians revealed they didn't even know the Prophet was there, and Mal certainly didn't know she'd been photographed by the press. Still, Amelia had the original picture framed on her desk with the ones of Susan and other family, along with other pictures Darren managed to get during his time over in America.

By some miracle, they even had a few baby pictures that were simply adorable. Amelia had cried many times realizing her nieces could have grown up as sisters. Everything that was robbed from them because of other people was almost crushing Amelia's soul.

As much as she wanted to, Amelia couldn't break down now. She quickly burned everything she'd written since the influx of memories, then went back to work waiting as she patiently as she could to hear from her brother. A realization dawning on her as she did before the week was out, she'd have to speak with Fudge. Even if she had to commit treason, it was worth it to prevent that chaos happening a third time.

 **}TLCW{**

Darren Bones, formerly known as Terry, woke up on the plane as the stewardess told the passengers that the flight was fixing to take off and to please fasten their seatbelts. He was heading back to America after a short trip in Britain for a meeting, and to double-check on a few things. He'd been up for almost three days straight at this point. There was a lot to do and very little time to see it all done.

As he stared out the window, all former exhaustion was forgotten. He remembered. He remembered everything.

He remembered marrying Lauren twice before this last time. He remembered being arrested shortly after each divorce.

He remembered being taunted with knowledge about his children by Lauren's family. Being sent pictures, and letters. To any other person, they were simple, homely letters written by a former family member who just wished to keep the convict updated. In reality, they were saying, we won, and this what we're doing to your children. They are going up hating you, you know?

In the first life, he received news that his son, Andrew, was dead. Not even three years later, he received notification that Mal had died as well. Darren had done the only thing he felt a father could do in his position, he'd committed suicide, hoping to reunite with his children.

But he didn't find himself in the embrace of his children.

He found himself in Purgatory, standing face to face with the big bad devil himself, Satan. Satan looked at him morosely, they sat for a long time, talking about their children. Satan helped him come to terms with happened before sending him back to mortal life.

Darren had turned to Satan confused, "Why?"

Satan shook his head. "No father could fault you. Especially after what you went through, were I in your shoes, and all of my children had been murdered by their mothers, I can't say I would have done anything differently, to be honest." He met Darren's eyes. "I will not punish you, _this_ time. I generally give a pass on the first suicides depending on the circumstances behind them, as I'm sure you're aware of cases where I will punish a suicide victim."

Darren immediately thought about suicide bombers and all the people who killed themselves to escape justice.

"You're spared, but should you do that again, I will be forced to punish you." Satan assured Darren, then proceeded in a gentler tone. "Do try not to do it again."

So Darren was sent back. He lived the second life, the difference this time, there was no Andrew. He was divorced from Lauren as he was in the first, and he went to jail as he did the first. He got out and moved far away. He firmly believed that his daughter well and truly hated him and grew up to be just like her mother.

However, Mal got in contact with him. She'd been free of the cult for a little while and was working as a stripper to survive.

Darren wasn't sure how he died, wasn't sure what else happened in that life. All he knew, was the one minute he was going to answer Mal's email, and the next he was in Purgatory again. Standing before him this time, was an angel named Gabriel. He explained the situation with Mal, and how her previous guardian angel made him stop answering her and got him hooked on drugs so much that his mind began to melt. He couldn't remember who he was, much less that he had a daughter who needed her father.

Gabriel walked with him and assured his weary soul that Mal didn't hate him. She loved him dearly and would need her father in this next life.

Terry, no, he was Darren this time. It was so much easier to think of himself as Darren; as Terry Chance and Darren Bones were two entirely different people.

Darren Bones was a decent and wealthy man, just as Terry was supposed to be before he met Lauren and got entangled with her and the cult she belonged to.

Darren had risen above the cult, where Terry's life had been consumed and ruined by it.

Without angels working against him in this life, there was no smearing of his name, or getting him arrested. The cult could try, and they certainly did try, but they didn't have the power they had before, and they were seen as the villains that they were. Be it Divine intervention or the thorough work of the MACUSA, he couldn't say, but he still sent a silent prayer up as thanks.

Darren was heading back for the last court date. He was going to reclaim his daughter and they would be free of the cult once and for all. They were then going to quit America and go home to Britain.

That was another thing working in his favor this time around. He had help. More than just the angels working on his side. He had family, and they had magic. He was a part of the most Ancient and Noble House of Bones in magical Britain. His sister, Amelia, was the head of the DMLE, the magical equivalent to Britain's police force. They had resources there and in the MACUSA that Darren wouldn't have thought possible before.

Terry had been a loner and an orphan, and other than Lauren, there was no one to testify that he was a good person, or do anything on his behalf.

Darren had endless support, access to the money necessary to make sure that Mal was well provided for during the time he fought for custody. He also made sure he had funds on both sides of the coin. Anything magical she needed, he paid for. Anything muggle wise that she wanted or needed, he got for her.

When Lauren found out about this, she tried to play sweet and get back together with him. He dropped her like the dead weight she was and swore he would get their daughter away from her. Like she claimed in court she feared he would. That's when she really started to fight against him in this life.

It was in the middle of the flight that he opened his briefcase to get out his cellphone and his writing tablet when he saw a simple, thinly braided, pale gold braided men's chain. It was a gift from his last girlfriend.

No, that was wrong. They'd been lovers.

She was married.

She was a married witch.

She was a married Pureblood witch!?

That wasn't like him at all. That was yet another difference between Terry and Darren. Terry never would have even considering sleeping with another woman after Lauren! Darren, while similar, felt sorry for the beautiful woman and wanted to help her find her means of escape when the timing was right. So he went out of his way to help this other woman, back before he knew about Mal. He knew about the situation in magical Britain, which is why he helped his lover, and why he intended to raise his daughter in muggle England and discuss the alternatives to Hogwarts over the summer with Amelia and his niece Susan.

When he learned of Mal, he immediately went to his lover and said he had to leave for America immediately to help her. His lover gave him the golden chain in thanks for his help, but she too felt it was time to end it before her husband found out and killed them both. She gave him a heartfelt smile, a sad kiss goodbye, and wished him well. Telling him to go save his daughter.

Looking at the chain in his hand now, his heart ached, and his throat developed a lump. He loved this woman, with every fiber of his being, he loved that woman. Still did, a great deal. None of it had diminished in the slightest, if anything, over the past two years, his love for her only grew. He held no illusions as to who she was, or their situation. He knew they could never be.

It was odd, Lauren had wanted to be the one woman to have all of him, then when things went sour, she wanted to break him completely so he couldn't/ wouldn't ever get over her. It was odd that, that despite all of Lauren's effort and what he felt for his ex-wife, it was Cissy. Cissy who had all of him, whose separation had broken his heart, and the one who he could never get over no matter how hard he tried. And she didn't even put any effort into it, she was simply herself, and loved him as he loved her.

Maybe it was the way she ended things with him, amicably, never asking for more, never once using him up then tossing him to the side. Honestly, he had no idea what the cause was, only that he woke up one morning and knew he was in love.

No, there would never be another woman like Narcissa Malfoy. And he was fine with that. While he would mourn the loss of her, miss her, he didn't have time to dwell on what was in his heart for her, and he knew she understood. He needed to focus on saving Mal before the cult got their wish and killed her again.

 **}TLCW{**

Ragnok came out of his battle meditation, his enemy down on the floor. A contester to the throne, who attacked him in the throne room, was laying on the floor of the said room. Dismembered and disemboweled bleeding out. The battle meditation that Goblins mastered would not allow the Goblin to stop until the opponent was dead. It was for this reason that battle meditation was only used in the pit, or life or death situations. Such was what Ragnok had just endured. It was kill to keep his crown or die and the crown would go to the contester.

Obviously, Ragnok wasn't going to allow that.

As he returned to his rightful state of mind, he realized there were a series of memories that hadn't been there before. Sure, they were his own, but they hadn't been there before his battle meditation. It was, curious. Most curious.

He cleaned off, then went into his office alone. Sealing the door behind him. As he did this often when working on bank or kingdom business, he wasn't disturbed.

He pulled out his Goblin pensive, pulled up some parchment and quills, and got to work. Viewing each memory, noting down what he saw, observations, questions, and more. For hours he did this. After the viewing, he destroyed the copied memories, then sorted his various notes, and reread them all several times. Thinking over all of it as he went.

As he sat back, finished with it all, he knew when the time came, he would do the unthinkable, and pick a side in the war. He chose the side with the young Potter-Pendragon leading the way, not old men. Even if he had to kidnap the lad and create that side for himself this time around.

In the first life, they stayed out of the war, and things remained as they had been. With Goblin lives being given a low priority, and their way of life eventually being forgotten. In the second life, the Goblins were raised in standing for a time, after the execution of the Dark Lady Hermione and the death of Harry Potter, the Goblins were systematically slaughtered.

Ragnok couldn't fail his people a third time. For the sake of his people, they couldn't afford to not take Potter-Pendragon's side. It was evident that with either Dark Wizard, Riddle or Dumbledore, the Goblins weren't in for the best of the stakes.

With Riddle, they were doomed to die if that side won the war. As the purebloods who supported Riddle wanted anything but Purebloods dead.

With Dumbledore, they'd long since known if they agreed to anything with the old wizard in regards to the war, they would later face persecution for "killing upstanding citizens" and Dumbledore would deny any involvement with them. Dumbledore would attempt to gain Ragnok's alliance by playing on the worry Ragnok had for his people, and get him to join the fight. After the fact, Dumbledore would orchestrate that the Goblins be killed because they would prove to be "too violent" towards witches and wizards. If Ragnok denied him after first promising to help then get cold feet, Dumbledore would have them killed because they refused to aid the poor witches and wizards because of their hatred towards them.

Without specific contracts in place, Dumbledore was too much of an enemy to side with. Ragnok had always believed that.

There was also the situation with the inevitable Dark Lady Potter (nee Granger), he would leave that for the wizard to deal with. As it was his problem, his destiny, what have you.

Yes, he would side with the prophesized one, provided the boy answered all of Ragnok's questions honestly, and Ragnok liked what he heard. With the world resting on his shoulders, the young wizard couldn't answer with half-truths, empty promises, or excuses. No, he needed to be strong, honest, and have an unwavering support system.

Which Ragnok was more than willing to provide if the boy had no other support. They had so much to gain by supporting the boy, and he was willing to take the benefits of helping the boy as payment for their services.

He would take on the whole of the Wizarding community for the future that this boy could bring to them all. He had justification that the ICW would side with them.

With all of that decided, some things worried him.

They had a Goblin traitor in their midst, likely reporting whatever they could back to the wizard they spied for. Ragnok had no doubts as to who that wizard was, given there was only one wizard who seemed to know the workings of Gringotts almost as much as a Goblin raised within her walls did.

The questions being, just how much did that old fool know? Was it a whole clan that turned traitor, or just an individual? Most importantly how far was this traitor willing to go?

In this life, the contesters to the throne, even the assassination attempts, seemed double what they did in the two lives he just relived. And it was certainly no coincident that it paired around each time a certain wizard attempted to gain access to things he shouldn't or preceded a visit from said wizard.

Ragnok was not known for being stupid, he saw so many potential problems. So yes, he worried. He worried for his people, for their way of life, for their very lives given how wrong this could go. Not even the babes in their cribs would be spared. He worried for this boy, who had to accomplish so much and had little in the way of help. With several others keeping secrets or straight-up working against him with fuller decks than the boy possessed.

Ragnok closed his eyes as a single tear fell down his cheek. The only show of emotion he could allow himself, and even that was kept in private.

Most of all, he worried about his son, who was so far from home.

 **}TLCW{**

 _ **AN:**_ _I have agonized and agonized over this chapter. Because this is the start of it all. Grant everything before was the starting line, but everything during it was the prep work, here starts the official gunshot and the race. I wanted the changes to be evident from the start for many of the characters, especially Remus, who now no longer has to deal with the pain of each transformation of the full moon, but also has control over himself when he does. The stigma being now is that is similar to merpeople and the goblins, they are simply different. They "have" to turn, whereas animagi are a choice._

 _I hope with all of my being that I got Dumbledore started right. Or wrong, as the case may be. I've said many things about him up to this point, but I've never actually had direct interaction with him yet. So I'm agonizing about whether or not I've done the manipulative Dumbles right._

 _Anyway, that's the first installment of the Awakening Chapters. Which is chapters 11-15._

 _Well, off I go to finish them up!_

 _See you again soon!_


	12. Chapter 12: A New Beginning- Mal

_**AN:**_ _ **STANDARD DISCLAIMER**_ _: Harry Potter and all of his associates, and the world-building, is the_ _ **property of JKRowling**_ _. Even if she made a few mistakes that she admitted to. I'm just taking the ready-made world, twisting up a few facts, adding in my own mix and thoughts, and VIOLA! We've got TLCW._ _ **^_^**_

 _In further news, the last chapter saw the beginning of the mortal world, and we saw a bunch of characters awakening outside of the Hogwarts area.  
This chapter and the next will focus on Mal and Ares respectably. Followed by two more chapters, Awakening Part 2 and 3. That will feature more characters awakening. I hope some characters will take you by surprise, and some that will confuse you. _

_All summer I've catered to my daughter who was off from school. She starts school again soon and that should see an uptick in my writing. Perhaps not my posting, but an uptick in my writing._

 **TLCW**

Mal woke up slowly. She was warm, comfortable, and her whole being just wanted to sleep for longer. But her mind became aware of things beyond her sight and pried her consciousness forward regardless of her desire to sleep some more. She could feel the satin comforter and the cotton bedclothes. She could feel the wind from a little fan blowing softly as it oscillated. She could smell the beginnings of breakfast cooking somewhere. Bacon and eggs as well as muffins if she was correct. Though it was overshadowed by the lingering smell of very strong coffee. She could tell that the sun had risen, giving the bright light beyond her eyelids.

She wasn't much of a morning person and was grateful for the coffee that was brewed. As she took in all of the other things, she rather liked all of these details already. The knowledge that this was all paid for by her father brought a smile to her face before she even opened her eyes.

Mortal life had begun again. This time was already ten times better than what she was used to waking up to when mortal. She was a little lonely without Ares there, but she would adapt, and soon they would see each other again.

With a quick stretch, she opened her eyes but didn't take in her surroundings. Instead, she got up and went to take a shower in the bathroom, whose access door was across from her bed.

She wasn't surprised to find her natural hair color, or that it was long too. Longer than it had been in her last life, going down to the middle of her back. She decided to have some fun with it, just to see what she could do in that moment, already knowing what she wanted. Instead of the midnight purple she had in her previous life, she turned her hair into what was called smoky lilac, or was it lavender? She couldn't remember the exact name.

What it meant was her hair was a mixture of light gray and lilac or a pastel purple as some people called it. No fading into another color as it went down the length of her hair, just the mixture of light gray and purple. She grinned at herself, she loved it. It brought out her ice blue eyes spectacularly.

She was showered quickly, loving the feel of hot water on her skin and the smell of the soaps. Once she was out, she dried her hair with magic using the spare wand her guardians kept around. Thanking Lily and Mia who taught her the spell using a dummy wand in the afterlife, because she hadn't gone through her memories yet to see what she knew so far as magic was concerned in this life.

She styled her hair so some of it was pulled into a bun on top of her head, held in place by a fancy circular hair ornament and the rest fell gracefully from the back bun. Hanging on the other side of the door to the bathroom, in her room, was her outfit for the day. Since she had court later, she wanted to look professional, or at the very least mature for her age. She wanted to be seen as doing as well as she actually was.

The slacks were a darker gray than parts of her hair were, with a matching vest that went over her button-down long-sleeved white shirt. She didn't intend for her outfit to match her new hair so well, but it was fantastic. She grinned wondering if she should wear this in front of Ares to get his reaction. She was pretty sure she could tease him some in this, then again as she stripped it off for him.

She laughed wholeheartedly. Never before had she felt so free, so natural, so right when alive. She couldn't wait to get to the Britain Isles, but there was stuff to take care of here first.

She turned about her room and found a thickly padded mushroom chair, with a shrug, she sat down to find it was rather comfortable. It was a very nice chair, no wonder she chose this. She carefully crossed her legs, knowing how clumsy she was when alive, she didn't want to fall out of it while meditating.

And she still ended up falling.

 _Seriously I could give Nym a run for her money!_ She thought bitterly.

The resulting thud had Mal feeling pain again. Her little yelp of pain altered her foster parents that she was not only up, but hurt herself, again. Apparently, not a new experience for them.

A woman poked her head in through the door. She was fairly tall with dark red curls, dark tan freckles on ivory skin, with a soft-looking face. "Trying to mediate again?"

Mal glared her, and the woman left laughing. Mal managed to sit gracefully in the chair the second time around.

Navigating being mortal again was going to take some getting used to again. Her hip and elbow were rather sore.

She closed her eyes, evened her breathing, and retreated into her mind. She calmed herself at first. The excitement was building, anticipation, and she could feel her magic getting away from her. Today of all days, the last thing she needed to do was cause magical problems.

Today was the start of her new future.

Knowing it would seem longer in her mind than it would, in reality, she took as much time as she needed to review her memories of this life so they were properly organized in her mindscape and she wouldn't have to go back through them a second time.

She brought the memories of this life out into the Secret Garden so even if Dumbledore did manage to penetrate her mind, he would only be able to see what was public knowledge by this point. She decided she would hold all of her memories with Ares in the grotto, nothing dealing with the afterlife's mechanics or anything, from her "first meeting" on would be held there. The memories would be made in this life.

Though she imagined it would confuse and terrify Dumbledore if he were to break further into her mind and see the small stone pond for the little lake it actually was before descending through a hole into Ariel's Grotto.

That left Ursula's lair to hold her previous life's memories as well as her memories and knowledge from the afterlife. Which, like the Kingdom Hearts game was only easy if one knew how to get there and discovered the hidden path. Out of the grotto was an exact copy of the game and the many twists and turns. Dumbledore would have to fight his way through that to get to Ursula's lair. Once he knew where it was, he could find the secret path, right off to the side of Ariel's Grotto. Not that he would. Mal made sure of that, and she was sure the angels did too.

With a shake of her head, she stopped examining her defenses and went back to the memories of this life.

She wasn't surprised to see that she had been abused in this life as well, but she was grateful it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it had been in her past lives. Though she was certain others would view that as debatable.

Lauren, after the divorce, was filed by Mal's father, whose name was Darren; down spiraled. Because Darren was rich and could have brought a lot to the cult, Lauren was deemed a failure for letting him get away. He had been an outsider, yes, but he came with a price tag that even the cult wasn't stupid enough to let him get away. They had all kinds of plans on how to induct him into their society and make him want to stay. Mal wasn't sure what they were, but knowing how they thought, none of them would have worked, she was sure of that.

The Cults officials were the working force behind the stalling of the divorce. Marriage counseling, something, anything but divorce. The marriage had only lasted at most a month, and it was too soon to rush to this option. But then Lauren turned up pregnant, and all attempts to stop the divorce were ceased.

Whatever they had been thinking, be it using Mal as blackmail in the future, or using her to get to Darren's wealth when she was older and subservient to them, she didn't know. And at this point, it didn't matter anymore.

What did matter, was the cult firmly believed that Lauren's pregnancy was her punishment for letting a money bag get away. But that wasn't the end of it, as her pregnancy was merely divine punishment, the cult wanted their own as well. So as further punishment for "ruining" the cults plans, Lauren was almost completely rejected in the cult. Her family and the rest of the practitioners kept putting her down, and no man within its community would dare even look at her as potential wife material.

Not only had Lauren been rejected by the man she thought she would grow old and die with, but the very system that had birthed and raised her cast her out without a second thought or a hint of regret.

As such, Mal didn't really grow up inside the cult or as a standing member of its community and a bitter disappointment at that. Rather, Lauren and Mal lived in an apartment on the outskirts of the cult's territory and town. Mal hardly ever attended church either, she only went when Lauren was yelled at and shamed enough to go, dragging Mal along with her. So while Mal was still considered a bitter disappointment, it wasn't because of the reason in her previous lives. Rather, this time, it was because it was a reminder of what they had lost, and they would soon prefer to forget about it. Thus, they pretended she didn't exist.

Lauren, while in better health physically, did have a job, but she only worked as a means to meet men. Darren paid Lauren a pretty penny in alimony, he sent a direct payment to her account every month, so most of their living expenses were paid with that.

Despite this limited form of communication, and the bank admitted in court they would have willingly sent the message for her. Especially the case of a child. But Lauren never told Darren that she had a baby, she never even brought Mal to the bank lest they inform Darren she had a daughter born roughly nine months after the divorce. Which is how Darren never found about Mal sooner.

Mal also never knew about Darren; Lauren never spoke about him. Lauren had gone the extra mile and pretended that Darren never happened. Mal would ask about her father as a small child, but all Lauren would say that Mal was her punishment from God.

Mal's conception and birth were explained away as the result of Lauren's weakness when it came to the sins of the flesh.

The "proof" for many years to both Mal and Lauren was the men Lauren brought home. Mal learned at a very young age to leave mama alone when she was with men. A lesson she took to heart and never disobeyed.

Lauren worked hard to make sure that the cult never found out about her "true" behavior. Which is how Lauren was able to get away with living the life she did and escaping the cult's punishments for her sins and crimes against the cult.

Lauren, off and on for several years, would bring home married men and was their lover for as long as she could manage. Hoping one of them would leave their wives for her.

From what little Mal could gather from the memories, the men enjoyed the sex addict her mother was, but they didn't like how crazy and demanding she was. Either they went back to their calm and faithful wives, or they found other mistresses. In the end, her mother was always dumped. No matter what kind of effort she put into those relationships, they always left, and from what Mal could see, it was her mother's fault that they ended the way they did.

Lauren began to take home the "bad boy" type men when the married men in the area spread the word to avoid her. Eventually, even the "bad boy" type of men didn't want to be around Lauren; having heard from what few she had ensnared, and the married men who barely managed to get away, just the type of woman she was. Oh, she was loyal alright, for as long as she was yours, but she was the kind of psycho crazy that would sleep with a knife under her pillow and stab you if you so much thought another woman's name.

They all seemed to tolerate Mal or like her well enough, but upon seeing the kind of crazy that would scare even the Mad Hatter in Wonderland her mother wielded, they all bolted and ran without looking back.

So Lauren went looking for a different type of men and didn't occur to Mal until she was viewing the memories just what her mother was doing.

Lauren would take Mal out with her practically every day. Most times, when a man commented on how pretty Mal was, he turned out to be more interested in Mal than he was with Lauren. Lauren used this to her advantage. In more ways than one.

This is where others would find her past abuse compared to this life debatable.

Lauren had deliberately sought out these pedophiles, and she would keep these men around by promising them a naked Mal.

Mal's eyes popped open in as she was jerked out of her mindscape due to the shock. She tried to swallow the bile building in her stomach.

While Mal was never touched, or her naked body ever seen in person by these men, Lauren would take naked pictures of Mal and sell them to the men. Later when the relationships ended because she was crazy, and not even a pedophile wanted to deal with her, she would threaten to expose them to the police if they didn't sleep with her, or pay for her silence.

So far, the whole thing hadn't been mentioned in court yet, and Mal had been reluctant to talk about it for a long time. Preferring to believe instead, that her mother taking those pictures in the middle of the night were all just a horrifying nightmare. But when she started her court dated therapy this last time around, Mal opened up about the truth of it, and eventually confessed the truth to her foster parents and her father.

Darren quickly hired a private investigator afterward, and she had a sneaking suspicion that it would find its way into the courtroom today. If not, he would be using this to blackmail Lauren into giving him Mal and vanishing with her. Lauren would walk away with the evidence against her after she legally signed all custody and rights to Mal over to Darren permanently.

Mal was sure this tactic would work. Lauren was almost obsessive about the cult not finding out the truth about her past. To the cult, Lauren was a woman with many faults but was living a difficult life as penance. She was celibate in raising her daughter, and teaching said daughter the ways and the rules of the cult. Mal shuddered with the thought of what they would have done to the mother and child if they had found out the truth. She wasn't sure any amount of magic could have saved them in time.

Mal had tried, she really did, but between the excitement and her growing nerves about facing people that she hadn't seen or spoken to in years in her last mortal life, this revelation was too much for Mal and she bolted to the bathroom. There was nothing in her stomach, so everything that came up was just stomach acid, which made the whole experience much worse.

"Oh! I was worried this would happen." The woman crooned from the doorway, having rushed in immediately upon hearing Mal get sick. "John!" She called, looking back out the doorway, "Get the anti-nausea potions!"

"Coming, Angie!" A man's voice called back.

"Come on sweetie." Angie said helping Mal up, cleaning the sweat, tears, and snot that was running down Mal's face. After casting a breath-freshening charm, she pulled Mal into a hug. "You haven't thrown up since you're first month here, what happened?"

"I was practicing my Occlumency." She muttered from her place against Angie's bosom.

"And you just lived through the photo thing again while sorting your memories." John concluded with an understanding smile as he came in. He handed Mal the potion. "I wish we could take the pain from you dollface, but we can't."

Mal shook her head. "I needed to deal with it. If it's going to pop up in court today, then I need to be ready to face it. Dealing with it here is easier than doing it in the courtroom."

"Would have driven a point home about how bad it was with that bitch." Angie snarled.

John glared at Angie, "And humiliating our charge would accomplish what exactly? If the courts can't rule in Mal's favor with all of their current evidence, then having her throw up wouldn't make a difference. Without that photo business, there is still plenty of illegal things that Lauren has done, and gone on record confessing. Adding it wouldn't change a thing with the courts except painting a larger target on Mal. The cult already wants her dead, while they may not know she actually is a witch with magic, they still view her as something similar. Add this into the mix and they'll say she's the instigator for those "photoshoots". They won't bother being subtle after that, they'll choose a martyr and take Mal out in court or outside the courthouse!"

Angie sighed. "Not to mention the embarrassment of her photos being brought to the public eye and the damage it would cause the House of Bones."

Mal wondered if they had any real concept of how right on the money they were. She knew her and Ares agreed to show each other the memories of this life before they were reunited, and she was seriously considering talking him out of it now. She shuddered at the thought of what Ares would do to these muggles, especially Lauren when he learned what happened.

Angie nodded after a few more moments of holding Mal and stepped back to look over her. "Feeling better?"

Mal nodded. "I'm going to finish up then I'll be down for breakfast."

The two adults nodded and left Mal alone again, knowing that's what she needed right now. They were really good people and amazing foster parents. It was shocking to know that they weren't a married couple. If they were actually a couple or just two really close individuals, Mal had no idea. She could only equate this relationship to another that she knew of, and it was from Law and Order SVU. Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson.

Mal shook her head in amazement. She'd never been one for crime shows, but for some reason, in this life, that's what she watched a lot of. Law and Order SVU, NCIS, CSI, CSI NY, Criminal Minds, the list went on and on. She also watched paranormal criminal shows. Which also led to her becoming a huge anime fan after finding Psycho-Pass, then others from there from varying genres. It also led to her love of Supernatural.

She grinned. Oh, it was going to be so much fun to show that show to Hagrid. She could see him either hating it and wanting to save the creatures, or becoming a HUGE (in every sense of the word) Winchester fan. Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit might be another thing he'd like. She stifled back the giggle at that. She'd have to run that one by Ares.

Luna loving anime was a no brainer.

Getting back into the moment and the task at hand, she sat back down and went back to viewing the memories, carefully avoiding watching the previous series of memories over again as she sorted and stored them. She started viewing from where the previous memories left off instead.

It was rare, but sometimes, Lauren did find a good man. He would come into their lives and brighten up a once dreary existence. He would be kind to Mal or tolerate her enough to allow her to do her own thing and trust that she wouldn't bother her mother and this male visitor unless it was an emergency. Good though the times were with these good men, they always ended. Sometimes sooner rather than later.

For one of two reasons: Either these men would realize how crazy she was and leave before Lauren got the chance to pull that crazy on them like so many had in the past. Or, they would get too close with Mal and Lauren would pitch a fit. She would throw them out because they would accept Mal and love her like their own daughter and not ignore Mal and devote all of their attention to Lauren like she was used to. Like they were supposed to in Lauren's twisted mind.

That was everything Mal needed to know about her mother in this life. Now she steeled herself and viewed what she needed to know about the cult in this life.

The cult, despite their ignoring her most of the time, when they did acknowledge her, thought Mal was of the Devil. The proof for the cult came when Mal started having her accidental magic episodes. Her hair would change to random colors before changing back to it's original. A toy that they took away, or a book, would find its way back to her possession unless they burned it immediately upon taking it. Which became the practice when things were taken away from Mal.

However, they didn't take any real actions against her. The cult had brushes with the law before, a lot in recent years; they were on thin ice with the local authorities outside the community, and they knew it. As much as they wanted to "deal" with Mal, all they had were brief glances. It could easily be a trick of the light, as the outsiders would say. They needed solid evidence before they acted.

So they waited, and knew when they acted they would have the evidence that they needed to "deal" with her, and face the outsiders with their heads held high. No matter what the outsiders did to the cult, they would have dealt the Devil a blow he could never recover from. The death of his child or future bride, though the way some of the cult members talked, they thought it was both.

Mal thought all of them were sick.

Everything came to together when she was almost eleven and she got her letter from Ilvermorning; confirming that Mal was a witch and was accepted to attend their school in the coming fall. A representative arrived to explain everything with the letter. The visit had been pleasant and civil enough. Mal had been excited by the prospects. So the representative left believing all was right in the world.

Later, Lauren had dragged Mal to the cult's church. She threw Mal to the floor and slapped the Bishop across the face with the letter before screaming here was the "proof" that they needed, she didn't care what they did, she wanted no part of though.

There were three reigning emotions in the room that afternoon; determination, resolve, and vindication. Mal was brought to the basement of the church, and her mother left. Neither Mal or Lauren mentioned the representative. Lauren, whatever her reasons were remained her own. Mal, because she was in too much shock to even remember. Mal waited fearfully for her mother to return, but she never did. Instead, Mal's grandparents came, and made her read the bible for many hours.

That night, it was explained to Mal that her mother was out on a "date" with one of the cult members, and Mal's grandparents were bringing her to a "remote location prayer group".

They didn't drive for a long time, it was just out of town, down a dirt road that was surrounded by forest, but parted into a clearing. When Mal asked where they were and why they were there, her grandparents said that the church gathered to burn her at the stake for being a witch. That's why she read the chapters she did. So she'd know her sin and repent. The flames would either cleanse her soul and she'd be sent back to God, or she'd be punished and sent to a place where she'd burn for eternity. Either way, she'd no longer be able to help the Devil.

Fear consumed Mal and she fought as best she could. They had needed almost fifteen people to pull her out of the car. She fought as she was beaten down and tied up with rope that had been soaked with holy oil before drying in the sun for seven days just for occasions like this one; telling Mal then and now she wasn't the only one they had quietly disposed of.

She fought as best she could as they lifted her and tied her to the wooden post on a platform over scorched earth. She cried, begged, and pleaded, but none of it went noticed by the cult members who came to watch the witch burn. It fell on deaf ears.

As for the Bishop, priests, and nuns who were present, it was proof for them, the way she begged for her life, that she was of the Devil, and what they were doing was the right and just thing.

As the officials said the prayers and the members echoed their words, candles were walked forward with every verse. A well-practiced ritual if Mal ever saw one. As the candles were laid against the kindling that surrounded the platform and her, Mal screamed with all of her might.

Her anguish, physical pain, the pain of betrayal, anger, hate, fear, and desperation all came out in that screamed that echoed through the forest and into the community dwellings back in town.

To this day, Mal wasn't sure if it was natural, or if her magic came out in the scream making it as loud and as well-traveled as it was. But all in the clearing heard it, their shock dominated their features, their ears bleeding from the sound. As soon as her scream ended, her magic flared to life, and Mal had the largest bought of accidental magic ever experienced that pushed out from her body like a shockwave. Extinguishing the flames beneath her and rendering everyone present, including herself, unconscious.

The MACUSA got the readings on their radars, which apparently had nearly broken them, and immediately reacted to the largest amount of magic being released in centuries, let alone in a muggle area. Still, they knew from experience that a muggleborns life was in danger, they had seen this many a time, but never with the level of power.

What the MACUSA Aurors found when they arrived horrified even them. They'd seen beatings, they'd seen attempted murders, but they had never seen a cult gathered to burn an innocent child at the stake. Such things were said to have been banned from practice since the era of the Salem Witch Trials.

It didn't take them long to figure out what happened; considering Mal was still tied to the stake, and the church officials, as well as the witnesses, were all on the ground unconscious.

Seeing there were other children there, and the evidence that this wasn't the first time something like this had happened, the MACUSA knew they couldn't simply obliviate everyone and move on. For one; the cult was way too big, and they wouldn't be able to get to all of the ones in the clearing and in the town obliviated. While the church officials were all there, several practitioners and much of Lauren's family, acting as witnesses to the burning of the witch, they knew this wasn't even a fourth of the cult. For another reason; if they left the cult to its own devices, even if they did manage to obliviate everyone and take the girl, other people, most likely children, would be condemned to this fate in the future. And they might not be as lucky as Mal was.

They dosed the Bishop with Veritaserum, where it was confirmed Mal was not the only one, merely the latest in a long line of witches, devils, undesirables, or greatest sinners that had been brought out to this location to burn. There were also several more people who were under suspicion for falling under one of those titles, one of them now being Lauren. Some of them were present to show them what could happen and offer this last chance at redemption, a few of them children. To teach them to deny the Devil and sin in all forms.

Given this confession, MACUSA had no choice but to act. How many like Mal, how many other children suffered this fate without their knowing? Had their radars even sensed it? Did that mean they were willing to do this to their fellow no-mages as well?

They performed a few Legimens on the children, just to see if there was anything else they needed to be aware of, and it was clear they were all suffering in some fashion.

The Prime Minister was brought in, she declared this was unacceptable. No-mages, magical, or other, they would not leave the others to suffer at the hands of the cult.

This all happened within fifteen minutes of Mal's shockwave of magic.

The Aurors did a quick obliviation of the letter from Ilvermorning, one Auror having been sent to abduct Laurena and erase the meeting with the representative of Ilvermorning. Instead, they were given a different reason to riot. Considering they'd burned others for less, it was believable for the no-mages when they woke up.

The reason given was a book. One that Mal had in her backpack, _Blue is for Nightmares_. A book about witchcraft in some fashion. To the Aurors and other MACUSA officials, it was sheer fantasy. For the cult, it was further "proof" of Mal's witchness, she was training herself in her craft in secret. That, on top of everything else they'd been thinking for years, caused them to break and felt like they had to take action. Resulting in the situation where the Aurors found them.

Acting as a couple off hiking, two Auror's called in the police and Child Protective Services. Claiming they threw a stun grenade into the center of it all before they could burn Mal at the stake. They doused the flames with water from their water bottles to put out the fire before it got out of control.

While the Police didn't like it, they had to give credit where it was due, they saved Mal, so the Aurors were simply fined for the use of the grenade.

The police took a different route to get to the clearing. Mal hadn't even been aware there was a second way to the clearing. But it worked in the police and the Auror's favor, as others from the community came to check what was taking so long. Usually, after the fire was started, and the lost soul was starting to chock on the flames, the practitioners would all go home, leaving the church officials and a few muscle men to keep the fire going and for the cleanup after everything was ash. After the scream and no one coming home, everyone else got worried and came looking for answers.

All of the adults present at the clearing were already being arrested. As the others arrived at the clearing, they too were arrested. Their crime was they knew what was happening and they did nothing to stop it. The second wave of onlookers were given a pass, and merely told to go home immediately, or they would be arrested for disobeying an officer the law.

While the Aurors had obliviated her, the no-mage police forces were the ones to deal with Lauren. Given that Lauren was on her date, she was barely able to claim that she did not know about the burning that was taking place. It was her word against all of the others, who were screaming that Lauren knew, she brought the girl to them. It also wasn't like the Aurors could come forward and say that Lauren knew and was in on it because they'd seen into her mind.

Thankfully, however, by noon the next day, Mal was barely conscious but was able to croak out that her mother did bring her to the church, and repeated what Lauren said to them.

Lauren was ultimately arrested as well.

Later, in front of an FBI therapist, who Lauren thought was cute and wanted to seduce, played right into his hands and told him things she never would have if she knew his true objective. For Lauren, it was all for the possibility of getting laid by this man. He knew what she was doing, and it was easy for him to play the role. Lauren admitted she might have suspected, but she didn't know for sure. She wouldn't have stopped the cult either way. She agreed with them that Mal was an abomination that needed to be cleansed from their holy world. Which is why she had absolutely no problem using Mal to get men and sex.

When asked if she loved her daughter, Lauren admitted no. Mal was her punishment for being a woman and being susceptible to sin. She kept Mal because it was her duty to raise the gender cursed by God and tainted by the Devil. Until Mal proved she was more than just tainted by the Devil.

Lauren was immediately deemed unfit to have custody of Mal, and Mal was not returned to her. In fact, all of the children of the cult were taken away and put into safe homes for seventy-two hours. Most went back to their families who were not behind bars after the mandatory holding time. What children didn't have relatives or parents to go back to, and the cult was not allowed to take in children that were not flesh and blood, went into foster care.

Several of those who were arrested were able to get off with heavy fines, jail time, or both. A few, like Lauren, were able to get off with barely a slap on the wrist by way of mental disease or defect. The argument was that they were brainwashed. Surprisingly, especially in the case of Lauren when her past abuse, bitter divorce after one month, and the treatment she received afterward, were sympathetically received and a jury bought the stories hook line and sinker. Mal could only shake her head.

Brainwashed, perhaps, but all of them still willingly allowed or assisted in murder.

The Bishop and the other church officials, along with their cleanup crew, were not given a chance at parole. When viewing the evidence given to them, and the funds that the cult had at their disposal, the Judge deemed that they were too much of a danger to society to allow them free. So they were kept behind bars and in chains till their court dates. Two weeks in, one of the little nuns broke and began to sing like a canary to get a lesser sentence. One of the cleanup crew members flipped three days after that. Giving the location of the bodies, and other secrets that the church officials had that the nun didn't know about.

Six months after the failed attempt to burn Mal as a witch, all of the church officials, minus the nun and cleanup member, were all sentenced for twenty-five years per life they took. It amounted to three hundred and seventy-five years.

There was a rage in the courtroom, a rage in the cult's community, as the church officials and its once trusted crew were sent back behind bars. The Bishop and other priests had to be put into solitary confinement for their own safety and the safety of others. The Bishop attacked a man who claimed to be Satan. The priests were attacked by others who were disgusted by what they had done and took pride in. Three priests were killed. The Bishop went mad after his failure to "kill the Devil", he shouted for days until his voice gave out.

After that, Mal stopped following the news on what was happening with them. They were well and truly punished, and locked away from society forever. This dealt the cult a major blow to its hierarchy. The people that were left, were not the type of bodies to be in charge. They lacked subtly, they lacked finesse, but most of all, they lacked the knowledge required to lead the cult. The once quiet, meager community was now loud and obnoxious. Rather than take their losses with grace and plot revenge in silence and secret, those left in charge now threw the equivalent of a tantrum and refused to acknowledge their defeats. They then attacked whatever threatened, insulted, or "attacked" them first.

As for the children who were taken from the cult that night; almost two years later, the cult was still fighting for custody of their children and to prove themselves law-abiding citizens. Combine that with the way the cult was now behaving, they failed each and every task/test given to them. They had to keep refiling for custody. Seemingly unaware that each time they fought more, there was yet more damning evidence against them. However, the cases were allowed to be reopened by the courts so they could keep gathering evidence that these parents just laid bare without realizing they were incriminating themselves. The judicial system's goal was to have the cult shut down permanently within another three years.

Even with the hunt for more evidence, some parents were refused custody outright, and the kids began to express their desire to stay with their current families.

One boy, Mason, who was seventeen, met Mal on the street and gave her a big hug before kissing her cheek. It was a very shocked, borderline panic attack, Mal who could do nothing but stand there and listen to this boy as he thanked her profusely.

There was so much he wanted out of life, but the cult was dead set against it. It wasn't their way of life. It was from Mason that she learned a lot about the cult's state and the fate of the other children. He was among those who were dumped into a community home, but he honestly didn't have any problems there. When the other boys learned how ignorant he was to even the simplest of things, rather than attack him, they took the time to teach him. This resulted in a lot of them quitting crime and drugs and forming a tight brotherhood with Mason.

One little girl was already adopted by the parents who fostered her. Several infants were also immediately adopted as the parents were among those who were arrested on-site and immediately thrown in jail and weren't allowed parole. With no family to take the infants, and with the parents losing all custody rights, it was quickly ruled after a short trial preceding that these infants be put up for adoption. Given the crimes of the cult, and what the authorities knew, growing up outside of the cult would see these kids immediately suffer abuse should they ever be put back into their birth parents care.

All of the adopted children were doing well, great even. As for the kids in foster care, some were in good homes, others, not so much. The young ones were adapting to life outside of the cult rather quickly and well. They didn't want to go back. Some of the older ones were having a harder time. As far as Mason knew, he was the only one above ten years old who was adapting and embracing this new life of theirs. Which was to be expected given how the kids were raised.

Mal, among the children taken and not returned, was taken in by the Auror's who posed themselves as Hikers. The MACUSA had the two Auror's all set up to be a convenient pair foster parents willing to take Mal in after her stay in the hospital for the shock and other medical attention she needed. With a squib social worker vouching for this couple, armed with all of the necessary paperwork, and a little magic where it was needed, custody was quickly granted temporarily until Lauren's status could be determined. After her confession to the shrink, who ultimately admitted he was happily married to another man, the custody was granted fulltime.

All the police and CPS had to do both times was sign their approval; which they happily did in a heartbeat.

Mal was also among the many children still facing court with the cult. Many of the cult members had stepped forward to lay claim to her, be them blood-related or not. All were turned down because they were either at the clearing or knew the attempted burning was going to take place to kill Mal. So Mal's "Foster Parents" retained custody of her.

Even after almost two years, the cult had not given up on their desire to gain control over Mal's fate. No one was in any way convinced by the pretty words the cult members weaved, or the mother disposition Lauren had adopted.

Even now, the cult only wanted her back to kill her. It was her fault that the leadership of the cult was arrested. It was her fault that families were separated from their children. It was her fault several of those children would never see their parents again. It was her fault things ended up this way. The damage done to the cult was "proof" that she was a demon most vile. Perhaps even the Devil given form to ruin them all because Satan was afraid of what the cult could do to him.

All of this had been shouted by members of the cult to her face at one time or another.

Still, this was America, where freedom is essential, and until it is declared permanent by the judge, the parents could keep filing for custody of their children. Though as Mal learned before, several judges were only allowing the refiles so they could dig up more dirt to permanently end the cult.

Whatever the case may be, it this allowance of refiles Lauren got involved in a custody battle for Mal. When all other avenues for custody of Mal were denied to the cult, and with Lauren merely fined, she was allowed to fight for custody of Mal.

In their eyes, the cult may have failed, but Lauren would succeed as she was Mal's birth mother and the only person who could claim full custody.

Unknown to the cult and Lauren up to that point, from the very first day after the attempted burning, the MACUSA had already gone on the hunt for someone who could legally claim Mal. Someone who wasn't a member of the cult, despite the cult bringing forth candidates that might have worked because they were related in some fashion. The Aurors knew they couldn't keep her forever; however much Angie and John were willing to do so after spending time with her.

Mal admitted a week after the attack that she had no idea who her father was, it was always her mother and the men who came and went. So they weren't given any clues, and the MACUSA had to do all of the work on their own. She had a biological father out there; there was no contesting that fact, and they went searching for him. At the very least, the MACUSA wanted to make sure there wasn't a father out there who actually wanted custody of her, no-mage or not, before they let Mal be adopted or gave permanent custody over to John and Angie. They didn't want to have to deal with the legality of a magical parent showing up and her already being adopted.

They backtracked through Lauren's many lovers, which is how the truth of her past came to light in the court, searching for Mal's other parent among them. They ran Mal's DNA against all of Lauren's lovers around that time period, and all came back as "not the father".

For which, all of the men breathed a sigh of relief. Not that Mal blamed them for that reaction. As all of them were married men, and most of their wives didn't know about the affair, they took the test in secret and were discretely informed that they were ultimately not the father.

With all of them eliminated, the MACUSA was forced to dig even deeper and discovered Lauren had been married for a short time. So they tracked this man down to see if he was the father they were looking for. Given that the dates of the brief marriage matched with Mal's conception date, they had high hopes for this Darren Bones.

Both magic and no-mage DNA testing proved that Darren was, in fact, Mal's father. The MACUSA knew long before the no-mages knew about it. Before the DNA was confirmed, they went to London to find him and were given another piece to the puzzle that was Mal's life when they learned Darren was a squib from Wizarding Britain. A squib, from the Ancient and Noble House of Bones. With Amelia Bones, Director of the British Ministries DMLE department.

It was yet another shock to the MACUSA, forcing the Prime Minister to personally get involved again when normally, she would have stayed out of it after her initial decree. The Ancient and Noble Houses were a big deal no matter what country they were in, and they were to be respected.

The Prime Minister made contact with Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE, and notified her first. Amelia immediately brought Darren into the conference and he fled to America to see if it was true. One look at Mal, and it was clear to him that she was his daughter. Amelia couldn't come to America because of her work and trusted that Darren would bring Mal home in time. Once all of the testings were finished and Darren was proven by magical and nonmagical standards that he was her father, all that was left was the muggle courts.

Right as Lauren began what was supposed to be her uncontested declaration for Mal's custody, the foster parents withstanding, Darren Bones stepped into the room with his lawyer, another squib, and declared his standing. It was there that he contested Lauren's claim for full custody. He wasn't interested in half custody, he didn't want visitation rights, he wanted the same thing as Lauren. Full custody, with no contact to be allowed between the mother and child in question.

Thus, began the battle for Mal's custody. Both sides refusing to give up. Darren, despite his dislike of America, and love for his home country, had forsaken Britain a lot of the time in favor for living in America to be near Mal. That is until he won the case and was able to take her out of the country.

This fact was well known, as it was declared in court publicly, and had sent Lauren into a panic.

Amelia stood before the Wizengamot in Britain and begged them to help the Bones family and allow her the resources to get her niece away from the muggle family who were trying to kill her. Once assured that Mal was a powerful witch, playing a memory provided by Aurors who took a copy of the memory displaying Mal's accidental magic before the muggle was obliviated, and another from Darren showing the results of her homeschooling, add to that the photographs in the Daily Prophet managed to catch of her, the Wizengamot wholeheartedly agreed.

Fudge was told by Lucius to allow this. He, like so many other families, Dark, Gray, and Light alike, saw her in the memory and read the news in the Prophet. They saw her potential, and they wanted her to contract to their own heirs, be it concubine, like Lucius was planning, with a line continuation clause, or a full betrothal to one day marry, depended on the family and the situation and beliefs. What all of them had in common was they saw the name Bones, Ancient and Noble Family, and saw status, wealth, and a chance to claim it, or in the case of the light families be a part of it, for themselves.

 **TLCW**

 _Even Molly Weasley was keeping an eye on the news regarding this witch. Susan was a fine pretty thing, but everyone knew she was hung up over the Longbottom boy, and at the very least she would be his concubine someday. With Susan pretty much claimed in Molly's mind, all that was left was ensure that this Mallory Bones would be paired a purely light family. Her Ron was the best age for the girl, though if she was as mature as they say, Percy would be a good candidate. It would also allow him to get his career and political standing he so desired._

 _It would also allow the Weasley's to get their greedy hands on at least a portion of the Bones wealth when Amelia inevitably kicked the bucket in a few years. Honestly, a woman the head of the DMLE, what utter nonsense! Amelia was just asking to be put in her place or killed. It was common knowledge that Amelia wouldn't live to see Susan graduate Hogwarts. A pity, she had been a pretty fine thing when they were younger._

 _When it came to the wealth of the family, Molly didn't give a second thought to the other Bones sibling. Darren was after all a squib, none of the Bones wealth would fall to him. The Wizengamot simply wouldn't allow it, they barely allowed women to inherit these days. Given the circumstances though, the Wizengamot stood to gain a lot by allowing these girls to inherit. Half would logically go to Susan, and the other would logically go to Mallory._

 _Molly would have a son who was a Lord, and a dutiful daughter in law. Despite being a half-blood, she would logically behave as a proper pureblood witch should. Mallory would sit at home in her opulent manor, raising another brood of Weasley children just as Molly did, allowing Molly's son to take over the Regency for the Bones family till Susan or Mal birthed a son to give the Lord's title to._

 _Given the number of sons Molly had, she held no doubt in her mind who the parents of that son would be._

 _And if Ron was the one who caught Mallory's attention, really the girl wouldn't have much time for even a single hobby as she would be taking care of her children with Ron as well as the children he had with his concubine. Really that mudblood bitch Granger wasn't even really worthy of that much, but her brilliance and prowess were not to be overlooked._

 _Given how low the Weasley's had fallen, they would need all the prestige they could get their hands on. And there was no denying that Granger would bring prestige to any family she married._

 _Though now that Molly thought about it, Ron was rather dense, and he had a one-track mind when it came to the mudblood bitch. Molly had to close her eyes, grit her teeth and sigh._

 _There truly was no other way, was there? Her little Ronnikins wouldn't be happy with any other girl. Sure, he would probably drop the mudblood if she told him to go after Mallory, but he lacked the grace and ability Percy had. The kind of grace and ability the Bones family would require._

 _Yes, yes, Percy would court and contract to Mallory, becoming Lord Weasley, and the family would be elevated to a new position with their marriage. Really, there was no other suitable candidate among her sons for such an important role._

 _Surely even that bint Bones wouldn't argue with that logic. That would leave Ron able to court, contract, and eventually marry the mudblood. It might make her blood steam a bit, but it would be worth it with Mallory as a daughter in law and Harry as a son in law. It was for the best, after all, Granger was probably the only one who could make Ron sit down and do anything that didn't involve food, chess, or quidditch. She truly was the only one keeping him in school with his barely passing grades._

 _Perhaps if Molly took both girls under her wing, and trained them how to behave like proper witches and housewives. Mallory would be able to fend for herself as young as fifteen. Really with all of that wealth, what did the Bones daughter need with schooling anyway? There was also the added benefit that after the training, Hermione would be more tolerable and Molly might actually be able to be around her and not gag at the stink the little twat omitted._

 _However pleasing the thought, it was just her looking out for her children's best possible futures, it wasn't her grandmaster plan. Her true goal was the Weasley name sitting among the highest caliber in Wizarding society, as well as the Potter wealth. And that plan was nearing its end stages._

 _The fact that Harry and her precious Ginny were betrothed, and pretty much a couple already, that made Molly smile every day. That pairing is what would truly bring the Weasley name out of the gutter into prominent society. There was no doubt in her mind that Harry would no longer just be a son in heart, but legally as well. Yes, Harry had everything she wanted in a husband for Ginny, there was wealth, power, brains, and handsome looks all rolled into one package already._

 _Then Molly sighed. No, she was, yet again, seeing a fully-grown James, in the young Harry._

 _The potential was there. But the little thing was so starved, for food and affection. He didn't have much in the way of brains, but he was smarter than her Ronnikins a lot of time, and that was all that mattered. Harry would grow out of the cute boy he was and into a handsome man. There was no denying he had power, even with his cores blocked, and there was denying the wealth waiting beneath the surface of Gringotts and the boy's trust fund. Just waiting for him to become an adult._

 _Mix it with the Weasley's pureblood, and the next generation was a promising lot indeed. With Granger's brains and the Bones beauty and wealth added into her family, yes, yes, Molly's grandchildren from her sons alone were going to be something wonderful indeed. But it was the grandchildren that would come from Ginny's and Harry's union that she looked forward to the most._

 **TLCW**

Mal reeled back as if struck across the face. She was left panting and a little shaky. That had been a vision of some kind. Whether it was, past, present, or future, she didn't know. She didn't care to know.

"Oh, Ares is not going to like this." She whispered.

There was no doubt now that Molly Weasley was as much of an enemy now as she ever was in the past, which they pretty much expected as Gabriel did not object to her name when Ares gave his hit list.

But that was for later. That was for when she was back with Ares. She glanced at the clock, she still had half an hour before breakfast was finished, so she just might have enough time to finish up before they had to leave for court. She didn't want to go over everything at the last minute on the way to the courthouse.

So she retreated back into her mind. She looked over all of her memories again and saw that from Amelia standing before the Wizengamot and the various family's reactions, was her gift at work. Not quite full seeress powers, but something similar. Which is why she could see the scene in perfect clarity despite not having been there. Which surprised Mal.

She already she knew she would get visions from time to time, she could also look at a scene or situation, and know the truth of what it was. Her Legimens was also powerful enough she understood what people were thinking, even when watching another's memories, or a vision.

Which was completely unheard of, so she kept that a secret from everyone, for now, even her father. It was another thing she needed to talk to Ares about before telling others.

She didn't know if that was really her gift, or if Satan or Michael added an Angel's blessing to it. Michael would have added it so she could better protect herself and be able to get away or ahead of the abuse she would suffer at the hands of the cult. Satan would have added it to better help Ares, whom he thought of as a younger brother.

Going back to viewing the memories and information, Mal learned she remained in the custody of John and Angie since the day they took custody. Darren and Lauren were of course allowed visitation rights, but on separate days, as Lauren had both thrown herself at Darren begging for him, then attacked him when he "had the nerve" to push her away and condemn her for what she did to his daughter.

John and Angie assured Mal, that the MACUSA only recognized one parent for Mal, and that was Darren. All magical communities agreed that Mal was a witch, thus custody fell to Darren by natural order. It was just a matter of making the no-mages realize that, preferably without magic.

Because of the many trials, court-mandated therapy, and the regular visitation from Lauren, the muggle/no-mage parent, Mal wasn't able to attend Ilvermorning. She had to be available for whatever reason and not mysteriously disappear for days on end. When the spies for the cult and Lauren came around, she had to be in the house.

Further, due to their cover, John and Angie were seen as formal military, living on their families limited trust funds and retirement plans as well as the foster parent payments. They didn't have the funds to send Mal to a private boarding school state's away. If they tried to claim she got a scholarship, the court and the lawyers involved with Mal's custody case would have to inspect the school to make sure it was suitable for Mal and her state of mind during all of this.

For those reasons, as well as others, Mal was homeschooled until the courts could reach their decision, and then Mal would be free to attend whatever magical school Darren and Amelia decided to send her to. Though Mal knew exactly where she was going, it was just a matter of time until Darren realized that too.

Among the other reasons as to why Mal was homeschooled, she was being stalked; hence the use of the word spies earlier to describe the situation. Every day it seemed they saw at least one suspicious car or a member of the cult passing by the house.

When she was first under the Auror's care, the cult kept trying to kidnap her. Engineering all kinds of situations when she was out with Angie, John, or both so they could abduct her while the two Auror's attention was otherwise occupied. Unfortunately for the cult, their attention was always on Mal. They needed her to be safe, it was their job.

Time and again, the cult would try to grab her, and each time, they would fail. It was for this reason that attending public school was also ruled out. Which Darren and his lawyers added to the list of reasons why Lauren and her precious family/cult should not get custody of Mal.

The benefit with her being homeschooled, John and Angie were able to teach her about magic. Going through the courses of first and second year respectfully and with the corresponding years. Thanks to not going to public school, she was able to focus all of her time and energy on her magical studies and practicing with her magic. Which, in her memories, saw her being able to control the metamorphing of her hair, and John teaching her occlumency, which he deemed as a necessity during these times, and just in case she did end up going to Hogwarts.

Because she wasn't attending a magical school, and she wasn't fourteen years old, she had to use a temporary wand meant to be used for training purposes for children younger than ten, or as a backup wand for Aurors. She didn't mind, as it worked alright for her. But it wasn't a perfect fit, and there was no telling what exactly would be a perfect fit for her.

Any magic performed with the wand was a little above average in her grading, but everyone in the MACUSA took that with a grain of salt because they knew she wasn't using a wand meant for her. If she was average with a dummy wand, they had high expectations for what she could do with a properly fitted wand. John, Angie, and Darren were all exceedingly proud of her.

Mal knew Darren was looking forward to taking her shopping for a proper wand with his sister and his niece. Mal learned very quickly that her aunt was Amelia Bones, aunt of Susan Bones. Placing her in the Bones family couldn't have worked out better for her and Ares. With Amelia being her aunt, head of House Bones, as well as Head of the DMLE, she was in a position to make things change, and change them quickly. That was smart thinking on Gabriel's part.

Amelia and Susan were also eager to be in Mal's life, and they quickly sent letters back and forth. A letter from her aunt Amelia said she was also proud, and it spoke good things about Mal's power. Amelia also praised Mal's character and good spirits during all of this and looked forward to giving her a big hug when she came home. Amelia and Susan did come for a visit over Christmas during their first year. It was then that Amelia gave Mal her hair clip she was currently using. Susan and Mal hit it off great and kept writing over time.

However, Lauren wasn't pleased when she saw Amelia and Susan. As much as they wanted to, they never came back. Mal understood it was because they didn't want to make the situation worse. Mal admitted to her father she wished they did come back. Maybe then her mother would blow a gasket and finally be deemed unfit permanently, but at the same time, she didn't want anyone to get hurt.

When it came to her schooling, it didn't come as a surprise that when it came to the subjects that didn't require a want, Mal tended to excel. Such as her occlumency training with John. She studied potions with Angie, and she was very quick in that class and loved it. She went out with both Angie and John twice a week to a witch who lived nearby, who was a herbology expert. Mal didn't like it, but she respected it. Because a lot of what she was learning would be later used in potions.

With all of that knowledge gathered, viewed, and properly sorted, Mal then went through her recent memories to study the various members of her maternal side of the family. Just as Lauren and Darren had visitation rights, the rest of her mother's family were granted the same privilege to a lesser degree.

Lucky for her, her cousins were never brought along; the family's way of protecting them from "an evil influence" no doubt. But her grandparents, aunts, and uncles, both by marriage and blood came to visit twice a month.

All of the visits were supervised by John and Angie, as ordered by the Judge, as well as the Prime Minister. Mal was not allowed to be alone with these people under any circumstances.

When her grandparents visited, they were always accompanied by at least two of their children and their spouses. John and Angie occupied chairs in the room, and Mal tended to stay on the opposite side of the room and talked very little with her family members. She'd answer as to how she was doing, and she was doing well in school, but that was it. Her family was more interested in talking about them and how they were doing anyway.

They always talked about which family members were able to get out of police custody, which ones weren't sent to prison but had to pay fines, and which ones had already paid their fines. It was their way of saying that her "evil plan" and her "evil influence" was not working.

By their family members getting out and getting free of the situation, they were rising above her devilish ways, and they would come back and reap not only their vengeances but God's righteous judgment upon her and cleanse her from this world once and for all. Mal made sure to tell them back with a sweet sincere smile that she was happy for them.

Though internally she gloated a little as she knew a lot of those fines leftover sixty percent of the cult bankrupt.

The end of each and every visit with her grandparents and various aunts and uncles they brought in tow, came this demand. "Stop this foolishness and come here! You need to come home!"

 _This foolishness_ , being her distance and unwillingness to touch them or be in the same room with them for more than hour before leaving to go do homework or some other excuse. Going further along that vein, they wanted her to stop all of this fighting against them, trying to leave the country with Darren. By _coming home now_ with them, she would be leaving of her own free will, and thus, there was nothing the police or courts could do about it. She chose them, so she belonged to them, and nothing the courts said or did, be it in person or on paper, could change that.

Mal didn't bother trying to tell them that's not how the world works, especially not the American Justice System. She wasn't in charge, the government, magical and nonmagical alike, were in charge of all of that. If she so much as tried to defend the situation, her family would see it as excuses to stay away from them. More, they would see it as her "evil powers" at work, and yet more proof that she needed "dealt with", and soon.

So, whenever she left the room, it fell on Angie and John to remind the delusional idiots just who was in charge here and why. Reminding them that they tried to kill her, their cult was still trying to kidnap her. If Mal didn't want to associate with them, that was her choice and couldn't be blamed for doing so. Especially since she knew they were lying so they could get her back then do it all over again, but with better success.

Angie, in particular, was even more upset that John was about the situation. She would start yelling that Mal couldn't even go grocery shopping with them anymore because of the cult members cornering her in the grocery store.

When Mal started her menses six months ago, she went out with Angie for a girl's day to get the things she would need and get her acclimated with the whole situation. They had lunch and ice cream as well, it was a relatively good day. Mal barely even noticed her cramps thanks to the potions Angie provided.

However, Mal was cornered no less than six times during her meal with Angie. When they got to the store, and the cult member that was waiting for them saw what they were getting, forgot his objective went into a rage and began screaming profanities at Mal. Angie, for the second time, punched one of the cult members in the face while Mal was a sobbing shaking mess.

Other than for court and her therapy sessions, Mal didn't leave the house anymore. She didn't even go in the backyard.

Angie would never repeat the words the man said that day, as Angie admitted she almost AK'ed the man right there in the store.

The following visit from her grandparents that week was the last Mal saw of her extended family. Her grandmother began to say that women were cursed with their cycles by God to give men their children so the men could be cleansed and go to heaven. The fact Mal got her menses at all meant she was chosen to be the Devil's bride! She needed to repent now and all of it would cease.

That declaration saw Angie and John calling the police. A short court hearing the following month about the incident, which was recorded on a video camera, saw Mal's extended maternal family being barred from contact with her.

That was roughly five months ago. Mal couldn't help but think, one down, one to go. With her grandparents and extended family forbidden from seeing or contacting her again, that only left her mother.

Mal took the time to sit and study the differences between her parents and their behavior. While it might not be needed for the court day so to speak, it would dictate how she treated them when she left this room.

Her father had been everything a little girl could dream of. Loving, caring, supportive, and very protective when it came to the monsters outside. Anything she wanted, even if she never admitted it, he got for her. Anything she needed, he made sure it was provided.

Darren Bones, upon meeting her for the first time, broke down crying and hugged her tightly. Apologizing and begging for forgiveness.

Something Lauren never did. Apologize, or hug Mal.

Her mother's lawyer had a pretty interesting story to tell in court. Saying Lauren had suffered traumatically after the divorce with Darren, and then her family kicking her out and minimizing contact with her. Following up with them later trying to kill Lauren's daughter, her mind – already broken – completely snapped. Lauren was receiving psychiatric help, and they requested the same be done with the daughter to try to mend the bond that the mother and daughter weren't able to form before because of Lauren's mental condition.

By court order, Mal went to therapy, both with and without her mother. When they were in therapy, the therapist tried to get Mal to be in physical contact with her mother, each time, Mal refused. She would talk, but she wouldn't touch her mother. It was the same when they had their visits without the therapist.

Before Mal started staying very close to the house because of the stalkers, she would go out with Angie and meet up with Lauren for lunch. Angie would be nearby, given the appearance that she left.

Lauren would rattle out the same questions as the others; how was she, how was school, had she been saying her prayers, going to church? To which Mal always answered, good; she was learning new things and while they were challenging, she enjoyed them; she never said her prayers before why would she start now; and other than when Lauren dragged her along, Mal had never been to church.

Lauren would take over the conversation then, similar to how her extended family did. While the extended family bragged about their successes, Lauren complained. A lot, and loud.

"It's hard to take care of myself and do things without you around!" Most mothers would be in tears, but Lauren was whining like a small child who had candy taken away. "When you coming home!? I need you!"

A guilt trip if Mal ever saw one. By playing the helpless victim, Lauren was trying to guilt-trip Mal into coming home. What daughter wouldn't want their mother's love and approval? What daughter wouldn't take care of their mothers if that's what it took?

The situation here though was Lauren couldn't take care of herself at all. If Mal didn't do it, it didn't get done.

As a result, Mal grew up a lot faster than should be considered normal. Added with her experiences from her other lives, even without her memories, it wasn't hard for Mal to adopt the role of the caregiver. At this point, it was like muscle memory, soul muscle memory to be exact, but muscle memory just the same.

Mal took over the budget when she was five. She took over cooking at the age of six. By seven, she was the one paying the bills, cooking, and taking care of the house. She even did the grocery shopping at the little outlet near their apartment.

Lauren was given an allowance, anything over that, Lauren had to provide for herself. Which is probably what led to the pictures and selling them, Mal thought. Mal shook her head, regardless of that, if she wasn't there to do it, it never got done. So the bills weren't being paid, the food wasn't being cooked, the laundry was never being done, the dishes were never clean.

Mal sighed and opened her eyes leaning her head back. If Lauren was serious about getting her back, it was so she could have her live-in slave back. If Lauren was just playing the part for the cult, it was because they promised to take her back in; if she helped them kill Mal.

Mal got up and walked downstairs, she had all of the information she needed now. Any more she would probably run away, going to straight to Ares's arms. Which would not be a good thing right now. It would show too much too soon.

Mal sat down at the table and started helping herself to breakfast. She knew when the potion wore off she would need the food in her system.

"Nervous?" John asked as he sipped his coffee.

Mal shrugged. "I guess so. I mean, not really. I mean," She had to stop eating and really think about how to put this into words. "I know that no matter what's decided today, the Prime Minister, with the backing the ICW, has the go-ahead to manipulate the courts if necessary. I know that there will be a Legimens, as well as Aurors stationed in the courtroom as well as all around the courthouse. One way or another, I'll be disappearing soon. I guess, what makes this is so hard, is the sheer insanity of those people, my mother included."

Angie took Mal's hand and gave it a squeeze of support. John nodded in understanding. "At least we have a competent judge this time around."

Mal groaned just thinking about the four different judges she'd seen. Despite Lauren's "mistakes" no parent had been granted custody yet. One of those "mistakes" was attempting to kidnap her while they were out getting burgers and ice cream. Lauren kept looking around and out the window. When she saw something, she was obviously waiting for, she tried to steer Mal away from the place and to get into a strange looking car. Saying they were going somewhere nicer. Mal, of course, refused, and fought back, resulting in Angie's first punching of a no-mage, who happened to be Lauren, right in the face.

Mal still laughed at that.

"What's so funny?" John asked a little concerned.

"Just remembering Angie punching Lauren." Mal giggled again.

"I still cannot fucking believe that no-mage judge believed that bullshit Lauren's lawyer spewed at him." Angie seethed. "Psychotic break due to the desperation to get her child back; Hippogriff shit!"

"Language." John warned gently.

"Better than that asshat of a therapist I was forced to see for a while there." Mal grumbled.

John shook his head. Angie was the foul-mouthed one, and while Mal was foul-mouthed before, Angie just made Mal's vocalization of it bolder. Though neither adult really blamed her with her insult or who it was named at.

While they had suspected, it wasn't until a Legimens confirmed that the therapist Mal had been seeing, Dr. Robert Thompson, was a secret member of the cult. Though that fact was only known to him, Lauren, and the Bishop of the cult, who had contacted Dr. Thompson from prison to make sure that Mal didn't leave the US. Dr. Thompson then kept lying to the judges and forced Mal to repeat her therapy with three different times

The MACUSA had interfered enough and didn't want to risk doing anymore without ICW approval, so it went unnoticed for the longest time that Dr. Thompson, was never going to work in Mal's benefit. It was still the hope of the MACUSA to end this all in the no-mage way so it wouldn't be investigated in the future and allow Mal the chance to still interact with the muggle world in the future if she wanted.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what the goal with Dr. Thompson was, but they still investigated his motives in his mind when he, as expected, ultimately failed Mal a third time at the last court session. They were proven that their assumptions were correct, and while it shocked the others, Mal wasn't surprised that Lauren was lovers with Dr. Thompson.

The current judge, Judge Rollins, who had been dealing with the other cult custody cases and was finally finished with a different case; didn't need the approved magical manipulation to make his ruling. He immediately ordered Mal to see different therapist, to get a second opinion.

Dr. Thompson's previous rulings were always Mal wasn't adjusting, she was withholding, and she wasn't fit to leave America for another country. One look at Mal and the judge could see something was amiss with that call.

The word of this one man wasn't enough for Judge Rollins. It was apparently clear to this judge, that Dr. Thompson's judgment was compromised.

So another therapist, Dr. Marshall, had been evaluating both parents, as well as Mal. He evaluated Mal with each of them. How she interacted with them, what was said, and how she reacted physically and emotionally. A lot of the time, for those sessions, Dr. Marshall was watching from somewhere else. Just observing. A lot of the talking with him was done one on one.

Mal knew what the situation with her mother looked like.

The situation with her father made her smile. Darren was a model father, as well as a model citizen, in either country. All who came to speak on behalf of Darren had nothing but praises for him. What ones weren't in the country, spoke via Skype. Her aunt Amelia was one of them, who spoke of the happy home life she had with her brother, and how if they had known, they would have taken Mal away from there a lot sooner.

It was during that interrogation that Mal saw the sparks of inspiration in Amelia's eyes. She didn't need her gift to tell her that this case was going to spark things moving forward technology-wise for Wizarding Britain since all of the other magical governments were already adopting this.

Darren was also the only person, who, while allowed unsupervised visits, didn't let himself be alone with her. So he couldn't be accused of anything. He proved to be a good father from the moment he found about her. He was there when something bad happened and she needed a parent. When he couldn't see her due to work obligations, he called, or they skyped. He called her every day, even if he'd been with her all day, to tell her goodnight.

Lauren's lawyer tried to argue that Darren was trying to bribe Mal by spoiling her, Mal argued on the stand that he didn't. He bought her the clothes she needed, the feminine products she needed, and any time she saw a book, or a movie, or art supplies he would get them for her, and they were all used. She wouldn't let him spoil her, despite his being able to. Because it made her feel uncomfortable after years of taking care of herself.

As Mal described that in more detail for Judge Rollin's, she wasn't aware that grown men could cry like that. He wasn't showing any emotion on the outside, but inside she could tell that he was bawling. When he called for a brief recess, she alone knew why he needed it.

Over the past week, the facts of the custody case had been stated. Darren's side, Lauren's side, testimonies were given, character witnesses, and now, the final day was the reveal of what Dr. Marshall's therapy found. Depending on what he said, the judge would make his ruling.

He said at the last court date, both parents had compelling arguments, and despite the few character witnesses for each parent demeaning them, (the cult for Darren, and the people around the apartment building and grocery store for Lauren), a decision couldn't be made on that alone. So it was on Dr. Marshall to say which parent he thought was best, and the judge would go from there.

On the way there, since they had to go the muggle way, Mal was doing her best to not bounce in her seat, or regurgitate her breakfast. She practiced her occlumency to keep herself calm. By walking around the garden, or falling into the little pond and into Ariel's grotto as a mermaid. From there, she'd swim around the area outside.

It might be the defense of Ursula's lair, but it was one of her favorite parts of the Kingdom Hearts games, and for the first time, she was swimming as an actual mermaid. Even if it was just her imagination, it felt so real.

When they arrived at the courthouse, Mal came back to reality, and got out of the car with her head held high, and was the picture of calm. While it wasn't national news, a few local media outlets were there with questions. When a reported got in her face and asked what did she hope the outcome would be, Mal wasn't fooled by his fake accent.

Her gift kicked in and told her this man was a reporter from the Daily Prophet, and he just barely beat Rita Skeeter here. She was unavailable when the order came in, and this reporter jumped at the chance before the Editor could call Rita. What was more, she saw this man was honest and hated Rita for the work she did.

So Mal gave him a small smile. "I hope I get to go home with my father."

This was obviously the answer the Prophet wanted, as the reporter quickly got a photo snapped by his cameraman, and they were off, while the others tried to follow Mal in, but the guards stopped them from going any further.

She was brought down a hallway she could now remember in her sleep and walk blind, to a familiar doorway. Waiting outside, was Lauren, her lawyer, and Dr. Thompson with his arm around Lauren's waist waiting off to the far side. Her father and his lawyer were nearest Mal and her foster parent Auror's.

"May I speak with you alone for a moment?" He asked before looking at Angie and John when both nodded after Mal gave the okay, they a little way up the hallway before Darren turned back to Mal. "I need to say something before we go in there."

Mal looked at him confused, there was something in his eyes, a knowledge that hadn't been there before. Gabriel hadn't mentioned her father being one of the ones with memories.

"I never hated you for doing what you had to do to survive, Mal." Darren said gently, looking her in the eye as he said it. "I was never much of a father before, and that, as we both know, is due to circumstances beyond our control. But if I had been, I would have been doing the same as I am now. I would have fought for you. No matter what happens in there today, please know that I am very, very, proud of the woman you've become, and I hope that I can be the father you need."

Mal's eyes filled with tears and her lower lip began to quiver as she realized what was happening. This wasn't just Darren Bones, squib son of the Ancient and Noble House of Bones, this was Terry, her father. She hugged him tightly, fat, hot tears falling as she squeezed him tighter. He held her tightly before coughing and stepping back again. There was more to be said, but now wasn't the time, and they both knew it.

Everyone who was seeing the scene believed Mal and Darren were emotional and scared because they thought they were going to lose and never see each other again. Lauren swore up and down that if she won full custody, Darren's alimony payments would double, with an equal amount being paid separately for child support. He was also to never have any contact with Mal again.

Angie and John knew that wasn't was happening, but they decided to let the no-mages think what they want.

"May I have a moment alone now?" Lauren asked sweetly.

"Only if you follow the same conditions that Darren met." Angie glared at her.

Lauren turned her nose up at Angie, walking back up the hallway with Mal. Mal shaking off her mother's hand every time Lauren tried to touch her.

"What were you two talking about?" Lauren asked in a fake sweet tone.

"He was just telling me that he was proud of me." Mal said honestly. "And he's proud of the woman I'll become."

Lauren's face turned dark. "Was that all?"

"No." Mal said honestly.

For a long moment, there was silence.

"Well," Lauren hissed, "What else was there?"

"None of your damn business." Mal snapped walking away from Lauren.

Right as Mal sat on the bench to wait, the guard came out and called them all in. Once seated; names were stated, dates, times, the case, and who was testifying today. After all of the preliminary parts were finished for paperwork reasons, Dr. Thompson and Lauren's lawyer a Gavin Shaw stood up.

"Gavin Shaw, attorney to Ms. Lauren Talen, your honor." Attorney Shaw said in politely.

"Yes, Mr. Shaw." Judge Rollins said, looking rather unamused at the man.

"Your honor, my client, and the good Dr. Thompson request that Dr. Thompson, who is also a therapist, be allowed to testify today."

Judge Rollins openly glared at Attorney Shaw. "Your client can ask that may ask all they want, but the only person who will be speaking here today will be Dr. Marshall. Perhaps Mallory Bones when Dr. Marshall has finished with his testimony, but that is."

"Your honor!" Dr. Thompson exclaimed positively scandalized. "I've spent more than a year working with Mallory Bones as well as her parents. I have more experience with them, and to have my council ignored on this matter is negligence, at least!"

"And one more outburst like that Dr. Thompson will see you held in contempt of court, and all of your previous testimonies be stricken from the record and I will be forced to award custody to Darren Bones. Permanently. No judge or jury in the United States will be allowed to reopen this case on yours or Lauren Talen's behalf." The Judge's dark eyes bore into Dr. Thompson's. "Is that in any way unclear?"

Dr. Thompson didn't respond, merely sat down and began whispering with Lauren, who Mal could see, was looking uncomfortable.

"Dr. Marshall," The Judge called. Mal looked and smiled at the elderly looking man, but still rather fit for his age, stand. "You make take the stand."

Dr. Marshall returned Mal's smile as he walked past and took his seat beside the judge. He was sworn in and looked to the Judge.

"You've had sessions with both parents and the child in question?" Judge Rollins asked.

"Yes, I have your honor." Dr. Marshal nodded.

"Then, please, tell us what you've discovered and what your opinion is of the custody situation." Judge Rollins said and sat back.

Dr. Marshall cleared his throat and turned so he was mostly facing the judge.

"I'll start with the child in question if you've no objections?" There wasn't any, so Dr. Marshall continued.

"Mallory Bones is a surprisingly well-rounded girl with a level head on her shoulders. She behaves more like a thirty-year-old than she does a teenager. Which surprises me, as well as saddens me. To clarify this, I will explain in more detail," Dr. Marshall took a sip of water before continuing. "Mallory, or Mal, as she prefers to be called, shows all the signs of PTSD resulting from an abusive childhood, the attempt on her life, as well as the constant kidnapping attempts, harassment, as well as the stalking she's endured since the attempt on her life.

"She also has anxiety, again, stemming from the reasons stated before; high levels of stress and migraines, which again, stemming from the reasons stated before. Now the migraines are also connected to other issues, most of them being medical, for which Angela Benson and Johnathan Munch are making sure she's treated for."

Mal had to bite her tongue and close her eyes. The first names weren't familiar, but the last two were. No wonder the two looked so familiar! Though Angie had more freckles than the character she was named after.

The judge nodded his understanding, as Dr. Marshall paused.

"Normally, in situations like this, one would see a child with emotional distress. Lashing out at their environment and the people surrounding them. Again, this is normal, and given many years of therapy, those children can become decent law-abiding citizens, but as I stated before, Mal is not like this. Which shocked me more than anything else about her situation."

Dr. Marshall took another drink, Mal noticed he was avoiding looking at any of them while he was talking to the judge. "Mal is very mature for her age, and this stems from the fact that she was taking care of herself, as well as her mother since she was five years old. She took over the bills, the cleaning, the cooking, even the grocery shopping as we've heard here in this very court with witnesses and video surveillance to back this up. In Mal's own words, it was because Ms. Talen wouldn't or couldn't, so it was on Mal do it all. In essence, Mal was never truly a child. She's been an adult in a child's body for many years."

Mal wondered what the good doctor would say, or do if he knew just how true his words were just then.

"With this level of maturity, when Mal came into my care, she was very well aware that she had mental issues, and she was more than willing to talk them out, and work on getting herself into a position mentally where she could deal with it all. She admitted to me she knew there would be days where it would be too much to handle, and she was already experiencing days when her emotions shut down.

"Along with days where she didn't even talk to her foster parents because she physically and emotionally couldn't do it with her mind the state it was in. She's handled them all in her own way, as best she can." Dr. Marshall took another drink before looking back at the judge.

"Mal came to me knowing she had problems and was working on getting herself in a state to handle it. She also has skills that no one else her age has. She is an accomplished cook, she can budget properly, she can do laundry and mend clothing.

"Let me remind you that she came to me like this. I've dealt with patient's decades older and they can't do half of the things she can. I've seen patients that when they're forty, don't have the maturity that she has."

Dr. Marshall beckoned one of the guards and they came forward with a bag and handed it to Dr. Marshall. "One of the things she does to help herself is she turns to coping mechanisms. She found out years ago that reading, writing, and crafting all helped her."

He then began to pull things out of the bag. He held up a sketch that she drew, as well as the painted version. With the judge's permission, he read a story that she wrote and gave to him. He held up a toy that she crocheted for the baby one of his daughters was expecting. Lastly, he pulled out a quilt and a dress she made for him and his wife.

"As you can see, this girl has remarkable skill, and intelligence that on more than one occasion has stunned me." Dr. Marshall said as he put everything back in the back, giving to the guard before sitting again. He took a long drink of water this time, draining the cup before continuing.

"In my opinion, Mallory Bones is the exact opposite of what Dr. Thompson would have this court believe. She is dealing with her problems, she has coping mechanisms, skills, and talents that make my wife, a lifelong crafter herself, cry with envy, and swell with pride when she receives gifts.

"Mallory Bones is certainly competent and more aware of herself than an eighteen-year-old just starting college. College students wish they had her brains and knowledge. I'll even bet half of the adults in this country wish they had her knowledge. Yes, what Dr. Thompson has said in the past about her school grades were among the lowest is true. But let's examine that for a moment, shall we?"

The judge nodded, and Mal noticed Attorney Shaw writing furiously.

"Children from amused homes often score the lowest because of self-esteem issues. They are told day in and day out they are stupid, and they believe it, thus their scores match that. Added to that, in Mal's case, she was caring for herself and her mother. Mal simply didn't have the time to devote to her school learning. When compared, the school's lessons versus what she needed to learn to survive and cope at home were pointless. She didn't put in the effort into something she thought of as wasteful. As any child in that situation would do."

Dr. Marshall sighed before smiling. "It's come to my attention, and to the attention of this court, that Mal's school grades have swelled from well below average, to average. In such a short time as well. It's clear that her current environment allows her to feel safe enough to relax and learn what the rest of the children her age are learning.

"Again, as I said before, the exact opposite of what Dr. Thompson would have you believe. In my opinion, given that we've recently learned he is, in fact, a member of the community that tried to burn Mal at the stake, his previous testimonies are merely the community's latest attempts at getting their hands on Mal."

"Objection your honor!" Attorney Shaw said firmly as he stood. "Dr. Marshall is here to testify to the state of mind of the child in question and the two parents fighting for custody. It's unprofessional and out of his jurisdiction to lay suspicion on Dr. Thompson. Who, despite being a member of the community that committed the child in question a horrible wrong, had no part in, and certainly would never partake in."

"Sustained." Judge Rollins said looking back to Dr. Marshall. "Please stick to the topics you've been subscribed to Dr. Marshall."

"Yes, your honor." Dr. Marshall nodded.

Mal looked between the two, her eyes lingering on the judge. She saw anger in his mind. Not at Dr. Marshall, not at her, but at Lauren, Dr. Thompson, and the cult. She saw in his mind what he'd already decided to. Whatever weight, be it fear, or something else, that was inside of her, left, and she was calm again. Knowing the way this was going to go, Mal had to call on all of her occlumency skills to not smile.

"That covers the child in question." Dr. Marshall said, still mostly facing the judge. "That leaves us with the parents of the child in question. Following the court mandate as well as my therapy, I've spent time with both of them alone, and observed them interacting with Mal. The situation with the parents couldn't be more opposite.

"Darren Bones is an all-around good man. He's well-liked, has a steady job which he flourishes at. We've heard that he's an invaluable resource, and my conclusion has led me to believe the same. Such is his job that he can work anywhere, and only fly back to the local offices for the mandatory meetings. Because of his work, as well as his family inheritance, he on better finical standing than myself, or anyone else in this room to be honest. Mr. Bones has a stable mind that I rarely get to see in my line of work. The man doesn't act without careful consideration over all of his options. He also doesn't take too long to make the important decisions either.

"Proof of that is his reaction to learning that he had a daughter. Backtracking a moment, but on the same line. He's a beloved member of what little family he has left after a tragic accident that took his parents, brother, and sister in law from him. He has a sister and niece who are a part of his life, and he's gone out of his way in the past to help them, and they to him. This same sister and niece have written to Mal, and they are eager to be a part of her life. Her cousin writes to her constantly, and they've become good pen pals."

Mal didn't need to look at her mother to know Lauren was thinking she would put a stop to that once she got custody of Mal.

"As I said before, his reaction to learning about his daughter says it all. Darren dropped everything and came to America on the possibility that Mal was his child. From that moment, on a maybe, to this day in court after it was genetically proven, that man has not spent any time away from her any more than he has to.

"He's spent nearly every day with her, except for when he was called back to England for work. Even when we didn't know if she was his, he made sure she was being fed properly, that she had access to all of her medical needs, and she had supplies for her crafts that have become an intricate part of keeping her sane. He's boasted about her to anyone who will listen.

"Watching them interact together, was one of the most heartwarming things I've ever seen. From the moment he met her, genetically or not, she was his daughter, and he genuinely loved her as a father should. He was very attentive. When she didn't want to talk, he didn't force her, but rather let her take the lead. When she was excited about something, he listened. When she asked him questions, he answered honestly.

"He's very aware of her maturity level, and even though he wants to protect an innocent little girl, he knows she probably never was one. So he treats her questions as her intelligence deems fit while setting boundaries based on her age. Mal is the only twelve, almost thirteen-year-old that I know of, who accepted this without a fight."

Dr. Marshall took a deep breath and nodded. "From the moment he learned about her to this moment, Darren Bones has only had Mal's best interests at heart and cared deeply for her wellbeing. Upon the DNA results, he began his fight for custody of his daughter, but the results had no bearing on his feelings toward her, she was very much his daughter already."

The room fell quiet as Dr. Marshall was given a refill of his water, and the judge sat with his eyes closed, appearing as if he was absorbing what all was said. When Dr. Marshall had his wet throat again, the Judge opened his eyes.

"We've heard about the child in question, the father Darren Bones, now what of the mother, Lauren Talen?"

Dr. Marshalls scratched his beard before answering. "Well, for starters, you can already see where she stands on this position by her name alone. The fact that she changed her name back to her maiden name right after the divorce, but put down Mallory Bones on the birth certificate, says from day one she was disassociated with the child. Whether she was planning to use the child to get more money out of Mr. Bones, or if it was solely in an attempt to put some distance between herself and this child, is unknown to me. Regardless, from the first day, Lauren's actions said that this child wasn't her priority.

"Further proof comes from her repeated years of neglect. The fact that Mal was in the role of the caretaker before she was even ten, tells me that Lauren had as little to do with Mal, and their apartment, as possible, except perhaps to sleep there. This has been confirmed by may people.

"Both the witnesses against her character, as well as the witnesses for her character. The witnesses against put her wandering around town picking any man who smiled at her. The witnesses from her family and community all say she spent a lot of time with them and with their church. Not once was Mal included that or was Lauren mention to be a figure in Mal's life. Mal was most often alone, while Lauren was away.

"Yet even more proof comes from the findings of the police work and the PI that Darren Bones hired, all of the evidence has already been stated, I'm merely repeating it. When Lauren was around, she either ignored Mal, barked orders, or, as I was only recently made aware, forced Mal to take naked pictures and sell them to pedophiles. All of which have been submitted as evidence, I'm simply referring to it as regards to her character."

Mal's eyes widened as she gasped, she thought that wasn't going to be mentioned.

"I was forced!" Lauren immediately screeched in tears. "I was forced to take those! They were threatening my life! My daughter's life!"

"Order!" Judge Rollins called out. "Mr. Shaw, control your client!"

Attorney Shaw nodded as he and Dr. Thompson tried to control a now nearly hysterical Lauren. With her well in Dr. Thompson's arms, he stood tall and firm.

"Your honor, this piece of evidence has neither been mentioned to me nor was it ever stated before the court before! I either ask for a continuance to go over this evidence with my client to present a defense, or it be stricken from the record!"

Judge Rollins looked at Darren and his lawyer, Sandra Bellrock. "Ms. Bellrock, do you have the evidence in question?"

Attorney Bellrock, or Sandra, as Mal had been given permission to call her. "We have your honor, but we do not wish to submit it at this time. We feel the courts have been given ample enough evidence, and with Dr. Marshall's testimony, that you would see it's in the best interests for the child in question that my client be awarded full custody."

"So be it." Judge Rollins said with a smack of his hammer on the mallet. Whatever the technical terms Mal didn't know, and she didn't care. "There will be no continuations at this point, we proceed as agreed upon before."

No one missed the fact that Lauren sagged with relief and her eyes were dry seconds later. Mal also noticed that Attorney Shaw was relieved as well. Possession of child pornography was bad enough, producing it was even worse.

"Dr. Marshall, do you believe in Ms. Talen's defense that her state of mind was compromised?" Judge Rollins asked pointedly.

"It's not that easy." Dr. Marshall sighed. "Lauren Talen does show signs of an occult brainwashing. Likely the result of being raised in the community that she was. I would need more time to officially diagnose that, but from my preliminary findings, that appears to be the only mental affliction she has.

"Her various past lovers, her deliberate neglecting of her own child, as well as abandoning her daughter to be killed by the community that essentially kicked her out were all conscious and aware decisions. Now, the last one could be contributed to her being brainwashed, but I would need extra time to diagnose that, something which we do not have."

"Given that I just declared no continuations that would be a studious deduction." Judge Rollins glared and shook his head. "I intend to see this end today. Carry on."

Dr. Marshall nodded. "In comparison to Darren Bones, Lauren Talen is merely tolerated by all. She has no job anymore, whatever money she had was from Darren Bones alimony payments which ceased when it was discovered she hid his child from him. While he didn't ask for the money back, the courts did grant that he didn't need to pay alimony anymore. Lauren then spent all of the remaining money on new clothes for herself and expensive trinkets for herself, as well as the church from her home community. Not one penny went to the bills, rent on her apartment, or for Mal's needs. She didn't even offer any of it to Mal. And that was over a year and a half ago.

"She was since then kicked out of her apartment due to six months back rent. When they saw the state of disarray and filth she left behind, no other place would rent to her. Her financial situation dictated she couldn't buy a house either. Despite the court's help, Ms. Talen never even bothered to get a job to support herself. She moved in with various boyfriends until Dr. Thompson took her in."

Dr. Marshall took another long drink before looking back at the judge. "Like with Mr. Bones, I observed Mal and Ms. Talen's interactions with each other. Mal was at first, willing to try, but when Lauren started to issue threats and making impossible demands, Mal was civil, but all road to physical contact, and eventually making amends were shattered.

"Mal got progressively more and more silent and withdrawn when Lauren began to complain about the lack of men in her life. She blamed Mal for getting kicked out of the apartment because Mal wasn't there to care for it. She blamed Mal for her lack of money because it was Mal's "stunt", as she coined the cults attempted murder of her daughter, that got the courts involved with things that weren't their business." Dr. Marshall nodded.

"In conclusion, it is my professional opinion, that Lauren Talen is not fit, or even willing to care for herself, much less her daughter. If she isn't as brainwashed as I suspect, she will merely go back to the way things were before, only this time things will be much worse for Mal. If she is brainwashed as I suspect, then Mal's very life is in danger should she be placed with Lauren Talen.

"My opinion is that Darren Bones should be awarded full custody if the foster parents aren't willing to adopt."

Mal expected fury to reign, but silence greeted the room for several minutes after Dr. Marshall's statement.

"Thank you, Dr. Marshall, you may step down." Judge Rollins said turning to face the room himself. "I call for a five-minute recess, when I return, I will deliberate what is best for the child and give my answer."

While the judge left the room, everyone else remained. Dr. Marshall collected his bag of items from the guard, hugged Mal, but had to leave to go visit his daughter who'd been in labor since that morning. Mal understood and wished him luck. She knew there were many faces here she'd never see again after this day. Dr. Marshall was one of them.

She looked over at Lauren and the two men with her. Attorney Shaw as stunned by items Dr. Marshall showed. He didn't believe that Mal could have done all of that, but he'd witnessed some of the therapy sessions and new she had the potential. He was suddenly hoping, Mal looked away with that. She didn't want to know what he was hoping.

Lauren and Dr. Thompson weren't able to think straight. No one in the cult knew that she had that talent. Dr. Thompson was now making arguments in his head about keeping her alive and forcing her to make more so the cult could sell it recover the funds that were severely depleted because of all of the fines and lawyer fees.

Mal saw in his mind he was the therapist that was called in to testify to the cult's members state of minds if they were arrested. He was well paid, and while he didn't believe in witches or Mal being burned at the stake, he did believe as the cult did. He didn't want to be with Lauren, he wanted, Mal looked away then too. She didn't need to know more.

Lauren and Dr. Thompson were desperately talking to Attorney Shaw, while Darren and his Attorney, were speaking calmly.

Lauren and Dr. Thompson wanted Attorney Shaw to do something, say something. They were beginning rethink all of the work that Dr. Thompson and the community did to paint Lauren as the victim and a good person. There was nothing Attorney Shaw could do. There was no jury to bribe, there was no way to rig this system. The Judge's final ruling was just that, final. It could never be overturned.

Which is what Lauren and the community asked for when they changed the stipulation of the custody battle and asked for this layout. One judge, one final decision. While Darren may have the funds to keep trying this case over and over, the community and Lauren did not. From what Mal understood, the once multimillion funds available to the community were now down to a meager few thousand.

From what Mal gleamed from Darren and Attorney Bellrock, they were sure Dr. Marshall's testimony just turned the judge in their favor.

Mal fought the smile that threatened to break free. She knew a secret and knew this Judge had been in their corner before he even set foot in the room. It was just a matter of laying all of the facts bare and making a ruling as the law dictated.

Judge Rollins came back in without a word and took his seat, he closed all of the files, folding his hands on top of them once they were in neat piled and looked over the room.

"I have reached a decision, but before I say it, I have one final thing I feel I must do." He looked right at Mal. "Mallory Bones, will you come here please."

Mal stood and walked up until she was facing the judge. He looked her over and smiled a bit.

"Not exactly an outfit for a twelve-year-old."

"Almost thirteen." Mal said with a smile.

The Judge nodded. "Forgive my lapse in memory." He took a breath and met her eyes again. "Tell me, in the past two years, despite all of the stalking, and kidnapping attempts, and what have you, how have you been fairing since away from your mother?"

Mal decided to answer this honestly, without looking into his mind to get the words to answer he wanted.

"To be honest, relieved." She took a breath and smiled sincerely. "For the first time, I've been able to get up in the morning when my body naturally wakes me up. Not because of some alarm saying that I needed to get up, get the coffee brewing, or a hangover cure, and have a large breakfast waiting in the oven on warm for when mom got home or got up, and still make it to school on time.

"For the first time, I was allowed to read books without them being ripped away from me and burned right in front of me. Same with any toys I wanted." Mal grinned remembering the plushie Heartless that Angie and John got her for their first Christmas. "For the first time, I didn't have to cook if I didn't want to. I didn't have to do all of the chores."

Real tears started to flow to Mal's eyes and her voice cracked as she spoke. The emotions of this life came crashing down upon her, and she thought this was the time that it was alright to show them. She sniffed before she started again. "When I was sick, I didn't have to crawl out of bed to go get some medicine and ask strangers for help so I could find the right ones, before going back home alone to take care of myself. I didn't have to take care of Angie or John; they took care of me."

She heard sniffling and open sobbing behind her to her right. She knew that Attorney Bellrock and Angie were openly sobbing while Darren was trying to fight his tears. John, the occlumency master, show no emotion, but he would cry later.

"I've been happier these two years, despite all of the bad, than I ever have been before." Mal said honestly to the judge. She looked up at him a fresh tear fell and her lower lip trembled in an attempt to keep the flood of tears threatening to escape at bay.

Judge Rollins closed his eyes again for a long moment before looking to Mal's right. "I take the foster parents still wish to refuse adoption?"

John was the one who stood and spoke. "Yes, your honor, while Angie and I have managed so far, we don't have the structure in place to care for Mal long term. Were it not for the outside help that we received, we never could have cared for Mal for as long as we did. While we've enjoyed taking care of her, and would do it all over again, we agree wholeheartedly that Mal belongs with her father. We were good for her and good to her, but Darren Bones is what she needs to be able to flourish into a bright and bold young woman we all know she can be."

With that, John sat down again, and all eyes returned to the judge. He was grinned and nodded. "I completely agree with that last statement of yours." He looked toward Mal, speaking to her as he said he final peace. "Since the foster parents deny the chance to take the child in question on a more permanent basis, I'm left with due course of awarding custody to one of the parents." There was no long pause, as the judge immediately continued from there. "It is with great happiness that I revoke Lauren Talen's custody rights forevermore on the soil of the United States, and approve full custody to Darren Bones." He nodded at Mal. "Have fun in England young lady."

Shouts for joy were had from the entire right side of the room as Mal burst into tears and ran for her father. He hugged her tightly and kissed her head, promising she would never have to come back here again if she didn't want to.

"If you don't mind me asking, Mr. Bones, when's the big move?" Judge Rollins asked.

"Earliest flight out the beginning of next week." Darren grinned as he answered.

Mal looked toward the judge, and realized, this wasn't his question, it was an Auror who placed a compulsion charm on the curiosity the judge had. Professionalism would have prevented Judge Rollins from asking normally.

This was part of the show, it was a piece of misdirection for the cult. All of the magical people, or in the know, knew it.

As he rode back with Mal to the house where she had been staying, she grinned at him. "So, how are we actually getting back to England?"

He chuckled. "Legimens or vision?"

"Bit of both." She laughed.

"Don't you already know then?" He asked.

She shook her head. "I can't see everything, dad."

He grinned. "That's probably for the best." His grin grew wider then, "We're going back via a cruise ship. A friend of mine at work,"

"You mean your boss," Mal corrected.

Darren just chuckled as he continued, "booked us pass on a cruise ship. We've got an entire suite to ourselves. It was booked for a family of six, so I could bring the family along for the journey. Unfortunately, complications have arisen in magical Britain, and Aunt Amelia can't come with us. She'll meet us at the MACUSA, as she's eager to see you in person again, and she'll be dropping off Susan. From there she has to go back to work."

"I understand." Mal said as she looked out the window at the house she would be leaving today. "Chasing after an escaped convict takes priority for the safety of the people. It's her job, and I'd be disappointed if she approached the situation any other way.

Darren looked at her shocked for a moment before smiling remorsefully and shaking his head. "Guess that answers my question."

"About how much my previous lives I remember?" She asked him.

He nodded.

"All of them." She said softly. Then she smiled. "I know you're worried, but don't be. There will be things happening soon, and I can't explain all of them, but I will explain what I can."

"Because of the Legimens in Britain?" He asked.

She nodded.

"If it helps," He raised his arm and pulled back the sleeve, on his arm was a series of runes. "I had the Department of Mysteries do this for me. A friend of my parents owed the family a favor. No Legimens can get into certain places in my mind. I can do occlumency. I never told Amelia this, but I can."

Mal grinned. "That will make my future a lot easier, and a lot less stressful."

Inside, using magic, Angie and John shrunk everything down and put it into two compartment trunks before shrinking it and handing it to Mal. Hugs were exchanged, and kisses all around.

"Will I ever see you again?" Mal asked softly. Looking and feeling every bit the child, she was at the moment.

John and Angie shared a look before looking back at Mal.

"We've been called on another mission." John answered honestly.

"How dangerous?" Mal asked fearfully.

"Extremely." John sighed.

"It's deep undercover." Angie sniffed back tears. "As much as we want to, we can't have any contact with you."

"For how long?" Mal asked as tears of her own were formed.

John shook his head. "The last two agents that went in were never found."

"Why you!?" Mal demanded. "You're both amazing! Why you!?"

"That's why." Angie said softly. "Because we did so well this undercover operation, the Prime Minister offered us this job, and we decided to take it."

Mal cried and hugged them both very hard. They had been her teachers, her friends. Although she, the soul, hadn't spent a day with them, she had the memories and emotions of having lived there for two years. So, she pushed aside the different soul aspect. She'd spent two years with them. They were family.

As she hugged them tightly, she knew she was never going to see them again. These were no mere Aurors, these were angels. On assignment to care for the body until Mal's soul was placed in it and she left the American shores forever. She looked up at them with renewed understanding. They were among those who were claimed by this mission in the MACUSA's Auror force, but their deaths would pave the way for another team to succeed at last.

Mal shook her head. Life could be so cruel.

With waves and tears goodbye, Mal and Darren loaded up into the car and drove to the local MACUSA headquarters. In the parking garage, they abandoned the car and went inside. Waiting inside, was the Prime Minister. Upon seeing Mal, she grinned and rushed forward, enveloping Mal in a hug.

"Welcome to the Magical World Mallory Bones." She beamed happily when she pulled back. "And may I be the first to congratulate you on your new family, daughter the Ancient and Noble House of Bones."

"Thank you, ma'am." Mal said as she bowed her head in respect for a few moments.

The Prime Minister grinned more before looking at Darren, "The communications mirror is waiting for you over there," she pointed in its direction. "Once you've finished, you and your daughter will be portkeying to my Penthouse suite at The Mark Hotel in New York City for the next week. The day your cruise sets sail, you'll portkey back here, and then another portkey will take you a secured location near the docks. You will have a round the clock Auror guard until you leave on that day, you both will be safe while on American soil, I swear it."

"Thank you, Prime Minister." Darren nodded before heading to the mirror.

Once activated, Mal saw a very beautiful woman with short red hair look back at Darren anxiously. "Darren! Thank Merlin! How did it go?"

"We won!" Darren said with a grin.

Amelia squealed with delight as she clapped her hands. "Is she there!? Can I see her!?"

Mal stepped forward and smiled. "Hello, Aunt Ami!"

 **TLCW**

Amelia Bones, stoic, stern, professional woman, burst into tears as the sight of her niece smiling brightly back at her.

"Oh, Mal! Oh, you're so beautiful!" She gushed as she touched the mirror, "Oh I can't wait to see you so I hug you again!"

Her heart broke to see the tears forming in Mal's eyes. "Me too Aunt Ami! Me too!" Mal wiped her eyes before looking back at Darren then back to Amelia. "We're going into protective custody right now. Please let Susan know what happened and I'm excited to see her again!"

"Will do!" Amelia promised wholeheartedly. She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Are you still planning to come back the day before Darren?"

"Yes." Darren said firmly. "I would like to have decent travel luggage for the cruise and make sure the house is all set up before I leave. I'll need your magic to help with that."

"I'm more than willing and able. If we haven't got Black by then, the troops can handle things for a few hours without me." Amelia promised. She looked at Mal. "Will you be alright by yourself for one night sweetie?"

Mal nodded. "I've been left alone for longer Aunt Ami, one night won't kill me."

Amelia nodded. She wanted to throttle the muggle bitch who hurt her precious niece. "Then I'll see you both in a week. If you'll excuse me, I need to go inform our Ministry about today's results. Love you both!"

"Love you too!" Darren and Mal shouted back.

Amelia sat back and sighed. They did. Mal was rescued, and she was coming home. Amelia went to the flu, threw a pinch of powder in, and knelt down, "Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge!"

"Amelia!" Fudge gasped as her head appeared in his fireplace, he jumped up from his desk and came around to her. "Well come through lass! Come through!"

Amelia withdrew her head, sighed in preparation then stepped through the green flames into the even greener office of the Minister of Magic.

"Well!?" Fudge demanded when she out of the flames. "How did it go!? It better be good news because the press is waiting!"

Amelia bit her tongue for a moment then smiled at Fudge. "We won; she's coming home."

"Yes!" Fudge exclaimed as he did a little dance, spinning around one foot while waving his hands. Even Amelia couldn't help but laugh. "Come!" He said clapping his hands once he was finished. "We must spread the good word!"

Outside, it was clear how much interest this new development had generated. The hall was packed from front to pack. Not all of them reporters either. Immediately questions were launched, and as Amelia and Fudge stood side by side, he raised his hand and a hush came over the crowd.

"Today!" Fudge began with a bright smile. "Today we woke with the fear of an escaped convict on the front of our minds, but tonight, I would like to send you to bed with happier news! I've just been told that our campaign to rescue the Bones daughter form the muggle clutches of America, was a resounding success!"

Bedlam broke as the cheers radiated from all over. Questions were launched immediately, too many at once to make out. Fudge raised his hand again, and silence was given after a few moments.

"I am not in a position to answer all of your questions, I'm afraid." He admitted with a soft smile, "But our head of the DMLE and Head of House for the Ancient and Noble House of Bones is. I will give the stand to Madame Amelia Bones!"

Clapping and more cheers were heard as Amelia took the podium. She took a breath and waited for the silence to return. "If you all will raise your hands, and ask once at a time, I will answer what questions I can. I'm afraid I don't have a lot of time, what with the homecoming preparations and the escaped convict still on our hands. But I will do what I can to ease to curiosity."

Hands were raised, and Amelia pointed to one at random. "Your niece was in the custody of muggles, how is it that this happened to a member of the Ancient and Noble House of Bones? Do we need to fear that muggles will come into our homes and steal our children?"

"Certainly not!" Amelia scolded. "Need I remind you we have wards that prevent that." When the report was thoroughly rebuked for her last question and looked embarrassed, Amelia continued. "It so happens that my brother is a squib, though this is already known. What isn't known, is that he works in Muggle London to make his living as the Magical Community holds no source of income for him.

"While working with his muggle company, he traveled to America. There he met a beautiful muggle woman and fell in love. They married quickly, but things turned sour when it was revealed she was what the muggles call a religious fanatic. They worship a phantasm God, and they kill witches and wizards in the name of this God. He left before she found out about myself and my ward Susan Bones, currently at Hogwarts completing her second year.

"While she accepted his leaving, provided he paid her a monetary sum each month, she kept the fact that she was pregnant with his child hidden from him. When Mallory began to show signs of accidental magic, this cult, I'm told, reacted violently. When she received her letter to attend Ilvermorning, her mother and this cult tried to burn her at the stake for being a witch."

This part hadn't been told before, and it shocked the magicals to their very core. Such horrors hadn't been seen in centuries, and the fact that a child lived through it terrified them.

"Due to the muggle involvement and the sheer number of them, the MACUSA couldn't simply go in and obliviate them all to claim one child. When notified of her existence, I and my brother worked tirelessly to claim her back through the muggle method so as to not break the Statute of Secrecy." Amelia sighed. "It was a long process, but we've reached the successful conclusion this afternoon. Mallory and my brother are now in the MACUSA's protective custody, and they will be making their way here within the week, and will be on British soil within a month."

Hands rose again, and Amelia pointed to another random one, deliberately avoiding gossip-mongering scandal queen Skeeter.

"You said they'd leave the MACUSA within the week and be on British soil within a month, why so long? Surely it would be a lot fast, and safer to deliver the Bones daughter and your brother back home today?"

"An excellent question." Amelia smiled. "We originally planned for myself, my niece Susan, my brother, and my niece Mallory to sail back to Britain on what the muggles call a cruise ship. My brother has lived a lot of his life as a muggle and wishes to show his daughter that not all of the muggle world is a terrible place. The journey also provided with close quarters, would allow us to spend time together to bond and get to know one another. This would enable us to get Mallory comfortable with us before settling back down in Britain. Remember, she's just a twelve-year-old girl coming into what is essentially a different world with total strangers. It's a lot to take in, and we'd hope to ease her into it."

"Why the change of plans then?" The same reporter asked before she could move on.

"Because with the escape of Sirius Black, I am duty-bound to remain at my post until he is found." Amelia said, careful on how she phrased her words there. There was magic in words. "I may leave my post for a few hours in a week's time to see my family safely off on their journey, but I will be back to do my job before dinner."

The relief that gripped the crowd was palpable. Amelia took pride in the fact that the wizarding public at least had faith that she would keep them safe. To keep a riot of questions from raining out again, Amelia pointed to another reporter.

"Earlier today, I had the pleasure of seeing your niece in person. Tomorrow's Prophet will have the pictures. When I asked what she hoped the outcome would be, she said she wanted to go home with her father." The reporter said with a warm grin. "Rumors around the MACUSA is that your niece is a very gifted and powerful witch. Can you shed some truth on the rumor that she might be a seer?"

Amelia balked at the question. "I'm, well, I've not been told if she is a seer or not. I've been told she's shown promise with Divination, but that's it."

The reported stepped forward with a smile still on his face. "The test scores show your niece's magical studies as being average, and this was paired with a wand that wasn't fit for her. Speculation is that once she's fitted with a proper wand, she'll be the brightest witch of her age. Further, her little quote to me, spoke a little of foreknowledge, can you really not confirm or deny that she is at least a partial seer?"

Amelia frowned. "I haven't had the privilege of getting to know my niece or the full extent of her magical abilities. While I was aware of her magical education and the thoughts behind her scores, I can't confirm or deny this seer rumor. I guess that's something we'll all learn once she's home."

The reported nodded satisfied and stepped back at last.

"Madame Director!" Skeeter's voice rang out.

There was no way to deny the woman forever, so Amelia turned to her, glaring a little.

"Another of the rumors coming from the MACUSA is that the Bones daughter has slight metamorphmagus abilities." Skeeter grinned. "Are we really to believe that a squib child of the Bones family gave way to create a child carrying a trait that is known only to exist in the Black family? In fact, one of its current daughters is a full metamorphmagus and used to work in your department until earlier today. Is this Mallory Bones actually your love child with your previous fiancé, current escaped convict Sirius Black? And you sent her abroad to protect her from her father's insanity? Would bringing her back here actually be the right thing to do?"

Amelia stared at Skeeter with a blank expression. Mostly it was from the shock rather than any skill at occlumency that she may possess. Inside, however, she was horrified and furious at the accusations this bitch was spewing out of shithole that she called a mouth. Who would ever wear lime green lipstick!?

"I can assure you; I have never had the pleasure of carrying my own child, Ms. Skeeter." Amelia glared at her. "If you don't believe me, I'll confess to it under Veritaserum, or you can get a Healer here to scan me and they'll tell you.

"As for Mallory's metamorphing abilities, it's not uncommon for Pureblood Families to have common ancestors. While our cross with the Black family was centuries back, the blood still flows in our veins. It's also, not uncommon for magical traits to show up in later generations after not being seen for years. Such as the case with families who've squibbed out, only to have what we thought was a muggleborn proven to be the heir to the family."

Skeeter glared herself now. Amelia had no doubt she'd still write that outlandish article or something similar therein, but at least Amelia's quick response and all of the other current reporters knew the truth, and not what Skeeter was trying to sell. Had Amelia been reluctant to answer, who knows the damage Skeeter's article would have done to the public.

Amelia ended the interview after answering several more questions. Another tactic to allow the public to forget Skeeter's outlandish questions. Amelia bid the crowd farewell and returned to her office to work.

 **TLCW**

That day, both Ministries celebrated, and the ICW breathed a sigh of relief. They didn't have to get involved after all.

The Daily Prophet had a field day with the news. For the first time since it happened, and for the first time ever for those who lived this event more than once, the news was turned away from Sirius Black, and for the better. For the first time, the escaped convict was completely forgotten. There were no articles about possible sightings, wild theories, or interviews with people who used to know Sirius from his school and Auror days.

The Daily Prophet was completely plaster with the story about Mallory Bones. The daughter born the Ancient and Noble family through the squib son. The stories featured what she endured during her life so far, all of it coming from the MACUSA's already gathered evidence.

Skeeter did write that article based on the questions she asked Amelia, but when she learned about Lauren's photography, she went with the inspiration from that. She wanted to paint this little girl as a scandal from day one. There was far too much good press for her, it was time for some bad. So Rita wrote an article damning Mallory for posing nude for money.

Thankfully, the editor for the Prophet scrapped the story quickly and wouldn't let Skeeter go without an unbreakable vow that she would never try to go after that story again. Or go after Amelia Bones in retaliation for this rejection. It was a furious Skeeter that stormed out of the editor's office after several minutes of shouting and screeching before and after the vow was made.

That was made public in the Daily Prophet as well. Skeeter, who was with the other reporters, found that piece of information among the stack they'd been given by the Ministry. She didn't look further and just ran with the idea that the child posed willingly for the pictures. Rather than print the article that Skeeter wanted to, they printed an article about what Skeeter attempted to do and what punishment she suffered as a result.

However, an article was still printed featuring that information as it was a part of the abuse she suffered in the past. The reporter made sure to point out that Mal was forced to by her mother or Mal wouldn't be allowed out of her room until she did. Which meant she was denied access to the bathroom, food, and drink. The Reporter assured the Wizarding public that the MACUSA scrounged up all of the demeaning photos and the Prime Minister herself, destroyed the offending images.

In the end, Skeeter had fallen from favor faster than anything Mal or Ares could come up with. What made it all the better, it was all by her own doing.

Mal read the articles in the penthouse suite as she got used to drinking tea. She'd never been one for tea before, but while her body and tastes were still changing, she decided to get used to it. She was pleased that Sirius was now able to lay low. But she had a feeling he was well looked after, wherever he was. Coming to the conclusion he was most likely with Remus and Nym.

During her week in New York City, she stayed in the suite with her father. She couldn't talk about her other lives with him, but she was able to write some things before they burned the paper. They mostly talked about her excitement with learning magic and her eagerness for her own wand. Her anticipation about being with Susan again, and looking forward to going to school with her.

Mal never mentioned Hogwarts, because she knew that her father didn't want her going there. But she knew in the end, he wouldn't have a choice. As much that would hurt him, she hoped he'd understand when the time came.

When she wasn't talking with her father, getting to know the current him, she was being escorted around magical community in New York City, as well as being taken shopping in muggle New York City. Having never been in any of her lives, it was a sight to behold.

She was initially worried in both communities that she wouldn't find clothes that would fit her, knowing all the growing she still had to do. However, the Prime Minister escorted Mal herself, along with the protective detail of Aurors, each and every time.

Mal got items for her sailing days. Art supplies, books for reading, journals for writing, and a hefty supply of pens that would hopefully last the summer.

The fact that Mal was worried a hundred pens wouldn't last the summer really confused the Aurors. Surely that much would be enough to last a year. Then those same Aurors found she'd filled three journals in under a week and used up seven pens while doing it. They understood then but still thought her fears were invalid as a hundred would more than last.

Mal also shopped for clothes with the Prime Minister is both magical and muggle New York. Both times she was taken to an exclusive tailor. On the magical side, a tailor who was of British origin and was drooling at the chance to dress Mal. Magic resized the clothes as needed, and she found herself in the shop with the best fabrics and the latest designs.

By the time D day came, Mal was outfitted, prepped, and ready. She was also exhausted. The Prime Minister was positively bursting at the seams with energy. Mal couldn't tell if she was genuinely like this, for if there was a motive underneath it all. But one thing was clear to Mal, she was never going to meet her again. So Mal made sure to express her thanks over and over whenever she was with the Prime Minister.

Not for the first time, Mal wondered how Ares's days were going. Were they as illuminating as hers had been? Were they at least good days? She missed him. She missed having him around. When she wasn't busy being dragged around or bonding with her father, her thoughts always went back to him.

It had such a profound effect on her mood that even her father noticed that something was bothering her. Mal could hardly tell him that she was thinking about a boy she'd never met but she was essentially already married to at twelve! This version of her father was protective, and despite knowing she had the mind of an adult, he was determined to give her a proper childhood. Mal had no complaints, she hoped most of her coming days would be a proper childhood. One thing her and Ares promised was they would enjoy the childhood they'd been given.

When D day came, she was very excited. Because this was a step towards getting to England, where Ares was. She looked forward to seeing him and his reaction to her new hair that she left the smoky lavender. She was resolved, no matter what her father said or did, she was going to give him a great big kiss, or snog him senseless as the case may be.

The image of her blissful reunion sparking a vein protruding in her father's forehead was so hilarious she had to laugh. It amused her Auror guard greatly. They simply chucked it up to her being ready to go home, and let her enjoy her thoughts and dreams.

"Soon." She whispered, deep in her mindscape as she laid back in Ursula's lair, watching a memory with Ares. "Soon."

 **TLCW**

 _ **AN**_ _: And that was chapter 12 down. I figured this was the most I could do with it right now. If I keep messing with it, I'll end up changing it completely. So until I do another deep edit (please Gods not for another year at least!) this was chapter 12. Hope you enjoyed it!_

 _See you all in September_!


	13. Chapter 13: A New Beginning- Ares

_**AN:**_ _I am so sorry for the lengthy absence, and there have been good reasons for it: I started editing one of my novels._

 _Yup, I have completed novels that I'm looking to publish! I'm a writer/author through and through lol. I find it funny that most writers I know started out experimenting with fanfiction, and I'm coming late into the game._

 _Still, I relatively surprised and pleased with everyone's reaction to TLCW thus far._

 _Another reason is we've been sick. The weather is getting colder, and fast. One day we were near ninety degrees, the next it was fifty in the afternoon with a low of twenty-nine overnight. That was all in Fahrenheit by the way._

 _But the result was we all got sick. I've been so dizzy, I was falling over, meanwhile, my daughter and husband were both sick, so I had to go take care of them. Meaning that no work got done._

 _Anyway, without further ado, I give chapter 13._

 _AN2: When reading through this chapter, keep in mind, "Harry Potter" was the false name to keep his true name hidden. It will read Ares for the most part, but when people talk to him, they will call him Harry, though for those who are obsessed it will have a specific term for him in their thoughts. I hope it will all make sense as you're reading it._

 **}TLCW{**

Pain.

In every facet of his body, in his skull, his eyes burned when he tried to open them, and his arm felt like it was on fire. The same fire was spreading through his veins quickly. He could feel fractured bones in his arms and legs. A couple of ribs were broken on top of that. While the pain was nothing new to find himself waking up to, the fire in his veins was. Thankfully, he was soaked from head to toe with icy water, and laying on a cold stone floor. So that made his situation mildly more bearable.

Given all of that, he knew he was alive again.

The smell of stale air greeted him when he dared to breathe. The taste of stagnant water mixed with his sweat and blood greeted his tongue when he opened his mouth. He didn't need to open his eyes to know where he was; he'd woken up in this condition before.

He was in the Chamber of Secrets once more.

Gabriel's words, _you will be sent back to a time where you can do the most good_ , kept echoing in his head as he rolled to his back.

This was before Sirius's escape, but after he defeated the basilisk given the burning in his veins; this was when he defeated Memory Mort from the diary Horcrux. Why in the world was he brought back to this particular point? He thought he would wake up the morning after the chamber, not in the middle of the fucking fight!

Relief spread through him as the fire in his veins began to recede. It was then he noticed something was standing on his stomach, though it was relatively weightless. Ares opened his eyes, and he was met with the golden eyes of Fawkes.

Ares merely grinned at the bird. "Hello, old friend."

Fawkes sang a sweet melody, and Ares stood up once more, fully healed. Fawkes flew off his stomach as he did, and came to rest on his shoulder as he turned and faced the almost corporal form of teenage Tom Riddle.

"No!" The phantasm screamed. "You should be dead!"

"Phoenix tears have healing powers." Ares said, his voice as apathetic as his expression was, though it helped that he was bored out of his skull at this whole thing. "Someone who claims to be the greatest wizard who ever lived should have realized the threat the Phoenix was the moment it entered the room."

"I am the greatest wizard to ever live!"

His enemy shrieked in an oddly girly fashion that made Ares look at him critically.

"Perhaps you have more in common with Dumbledore than I thought." Ares mused softly. "You two certainly seem to think the same thing despite it being false."

Not seeing the insult for what it was, Riddle took Ares's words to mean something else entirely.

"Of course, that old fool would send his pet to rescue The Boy Who Lived!" Riddle cursed.

Ares glared as he walked back to the comatose Ginny. "I don't give a flying fuck what that old goat fucker thinks or wants."

Despite the words, despite the glare, Ares spoke in a calm, perhaps, even polite tone. As he expected Riddle was much too shocked and confused by this to notice exactly what Ares was doing. Armed with the Sword of Gryffindor, Ares stood in front of Ginny, his ripped robes concealing the diary and the fact that the sword was positioned right above it.

"Something's wrong." The phantasm Riddle exclaimed softly, looking at Ares critically, and seeing things that likely any mortal would be blind to. "You've changed. You're not the same boy you were upon entering here or even the same one who killed the Basilisk a few moments ago."

"No. I'm not." Ares grinned manically at Riddle. Then added with a snarl. "And this time, you will meet your end!"

Ares revealed the situation with a diary, and before old Tommy boy could react other than look shocked and horrified, Ares drove the sword down onto the center of the diary. As the Basilisk venom was absorbed into the pages, the pages spewed forth massive amounts of ink that made up for the previous entries. All the while, Riddle's ghostly form began to crack and split apart.

Riddle's screams of agony, fury, and fear echoed throughout the chamber. All the while, Ares watched, not moving, or making a sound. The Sword of Gryffindor still firmly lodged in the center of the diary. Little pulses of black ink pushing up and out of the diary. With each pulse of expelled ink, a new crack appeared on Riddle.

With a final pulse of ink, Riddle's soul burst into a thousand tiny shards before wilting to ash then disappearing altogether. Silence once more reined in the Chamber.

Riddle was vanquished and gone. The Horcrux in the diary was removed, and it was now just as it should have been. Though, now completely useless due to the massive hole in the center with ink saturating the hole the sword made and the rest of the pages as well. Ares began twisting the sword around for good measure.

When the hole in the diary was big enough, Ares pulled the sword free with ease. After carefully wiping the blade free of the ink, he walked over to where Riddle had dropped his wand. With his wand retrieved, he felt something different course through him. He had anticipated he'd need a new wand to keep up with his newfound power levels, especially once his core was unbound, but he never expected for his wand to merely tolerate him upon his arrival.

Oh, he could still use the wand because it was familiar with him, but it would never be _his_ wand. It was proof that the Holly Phoenix feathered wand never really chose him, it chose the Horcrux in his brain. As disappointing as that way, it was a problem for another day. Not much he could do about it until he got to Diagon Alley.

He wandered back to where he'd been, quickly banishing the ink off the diary, and shrinking it. He stashed it in his pocket as Ginny began to stir. The last thing he needed was for her to see the diary and have a relapse. There was also this feeling in his gut that no one should take it from him. He wondered if that was the angels giving him a clue, or as Mal teased, his "premonition" ability kicking in. With a sigh, he put that aside for the moment as well.

He was standing once more, the tip of the sword resting on the floor, his hands folded together holding the ball on the end of the hilt.

He stood there, dirty, in pain, looking every bit as pissed off he was feeling at that moment. With the adrenaline wearing off, the pain was steadily increasing in intensity. Fawkes's tears were helping, but there was only so much they could do. He needed to get to the hospital wing soon. Pure stubbornness kept him going.

Looking down at the girl, he now understood why Gabriel sent him back to this moment. It was here in this place, at Ginny's weakest point, that he had to begin crushing the image of him she'd built in her mind. He was not a knight in shining armor coming to save the damsel, or in the case of her thoughts, the princess, in distress. There was no true loves kiss, a fairy tale wedding, and a happy ending at the end of this story for her.

Given the way she reacted when she saw him; a sigh and a dreamy look in her eyes, it was clear that's what she was expecting. He quickly pulled up his occlumency shields and cast a small Legimens probe into her mind. He was surprised to find her mind so unguarded. Whether it was because she was magically weaker than him, or perhaps she was simply an eleven-year-old child, he wasn't sure.

Ares knew he would every advantage in his arsenal to put some distance between him and his enemies. He was well and truly done with the youngest Weasley's, and if they didn't get the message and leave him alone after he said his piece, then they would fall before his wand or this sword. Whichever was handier at that moment in time.

 **}TLCW{**

Ginny was used to waking up after being possessed. By the time she realized what Riddle was going to do to her, it was too late to tell anyone or stop what she was doing.

She couldn't stop doing it because she'd poured out so much of herself already into the Diary, and now, Riddle didn't even need permission to possess her, he could do so on his own power there at the end.

She couldn't say anything because of how it would all look. She was a Weasley daughter, they had loudly proclaimed themselves to be a "light" family. What would people think and say if they found out she had an artifact of Voldemort? (At least she was pretty sure it was Voldemort, Riddle never outright told her.) All of her mother's plans would be in ruins!

Ginny had come down into the Chamber on Riddle's orders, unable to stop herself, so he could absorb the last of her soul. He would be made whole, and she would die. Lying forgotten in the chamber by all. Still, she had hope, there was one, and only one, who could stop Riddle, and save her.

As her strength began to return, Ginny was relieved. She knew she'd survived. Now it was just a matter of making sure it was how she thought it would be, and making sure she looked like the helpless victim.

She opened her eyes, and happiness filled her. She knew that he would come and save her. There was never any doubt in her mind that he would come running when a Weasley, especially this Weasley, was in danger. No matter what Riddle said, she just knew that _her Harry_ would defy and risk all to come to rescue her. He was standing before her now, fresh from what was obviously a hard battle, a sword in his hands. Just like the knights and princes in the stories her daddy used to read her.

Ginny liked to pretend as a little girl that it was her as the fair maiden and Harry Potter as the one rescuing her. Well, she got her wish now; she was living that situation now. Here she was, her life in danger, and there _her Harry_ was, it was the makings of a lifelong romance!

Oh, how merlin and fortune smiled upon her this day! She would not let their blessing go in vain.

 **}TLCW{**

Ares didn't need his Legimency to know what Ginny was thinking, it was written clearly on her face as she woke up and looked at him. He knew her well enough to get a pretty good idea of what she was thinking just by her expressions. Though he couldn't deny that it was nice to know exactly what the little bitch was thinking.

He had tried to convince himself as she was stirring that she was an innocent child, but her thoughts upon awakening cemented that she wasn't the Ginny Weasley people thought her to be, and she was every bit the horrible woman Molly was, and would be even worse when she grew up.

Ares's hands twitched on the hilt of the blade. He wondered if Mal would hate him if killed Ginny here and now and disposed of her body. It's not like anyone would be able to find out, though Dumbledore might eventually figure it out.

With a sigh, he relented. If Ginny died down here it would bring up too many questions, and Dumbledore trying to mind rape the fuck out of him to find out why he didn't succeed in saving Ginny. It was too soon for Dumbledore to try to rifle through his mind.

It was better to stick to the script as much as he could bear. That meant Ginny would live, and he would use this whole event to break away from the youngest Weasley's, as well as Hermione, as soon as he was able.

He also knew that Mal wanted to confront his previous to show them what they could have had, and what they never will now.

He had once thought such behavior was a woman's thing, as Ginny and Hermione did it often enough during his marriages to them. But he realized after his test life with that it was typical jealousy and territorial feelings when it came to being a couple. Especially when someone was actively pursuing your spouse or partner, with you standing right there. Though no one was denying the fact that his previous wives took that behavior to the extreme.

Ares had to bury those memories behind his occlumency shield. It would not do for him to react to those memories right now. Though the sidetracked thoughts allowed Ares to overcome his desire to straight-up kill Ginny right there and hide the evidence more than the logical thinking had.

His eyes had been on Ginny the whole time, looking down at her. Apathy would be his prevailing appearance and way of treating almost everyone at Hogwarts for his remaining time here.

Ginny was looking up at him, smiling softly at first when she saw him. Sweet, innocent, and offering. However, he remained silent, staring down at her with that emotionless expression, and her smile faded little by little, no matter how she fought to keep it in place.

She was waiting for him to rush down to her side. To drop the sword and look upon her with relief and compassion.

Only, he didn't.

Ares had done that before when he thought of her as Ron's little sister, and maybe someday he could be another big brother to her. That was all he'd ever truly wanted from Ginny, a little sister figure. Like he had a big sister figure in Hermione.

Thanks to his memories, he knew how he reacted before, and the result that came from them. While he thought he was being a kind and considerate person, he realized now that he was only playing right into Ginny's delusional fantasies.

Well, he was doing to do the exact opposite this time around. It helped to have the Legimens, so he could see what she expected him to do, what she wanted him so desperately to do, which were two entirely different scenarios. Thanks to that knowledge he was able to not only do the opposite but completely shatter her imaginings. Forcing her to face the truth at that moment.

So while she came back to herself, Ares merely stayed stationary. No emotion showing, not a muscle moving. Not only did it help keep the pain to a minimum, but it presented the scary image he wanted to impose upon Ginny's mind.

It was slow, but eventually, she came to realize that _her Harry_ wasn't going to follow the script in her head. So she sat up straighter, abandoning the perfect pose for him to swoop down and embrace her. One that would see them laying on the floor in a passionate embrace.

Ares wondered if it was normal for eleven-year-old girls to have sexual fantasies. Something to ask Mal later.

Ginny was trying to be discrete as she looked around for the diary that caused this whole mess – and utterly failing at it from Ares's perspective. She was unnerved by its disappearance, and she was more than glad to believe it had been lost, better yet destroyed, in the battle. The last thing she needed was for Harry to find it again. If it was one thing, she was aware of now, Riddle used the secrets of others to gain the trust of the person writing into the Diary. He would use her actions against her and drive a wedge between _her Harry_!

She looked up at the still unmoved Ares and tried to salvage what she thought was a fairy tale romance in the beginning.

"Oh, Harry!" She fake sobbed. Trying to sound as weak and as tired as possible, as well as doing her best to look guilty at the situation and relieved to see him. She'd perfect her lower lip quiver to get what she wanted out of her daddy and oldest brothers, and she used it now to add to the effect. It never failed to get her what she wanted before.

Ares was rather amazed at how much the potions affected his mental state and observation skills. Even without his memories and his Legimens ability helping now, he wouldn't have bought that act. He grew up with Dudley, the King of the Fake innocent act. He realized that's exactly who she reminded him of.

"Oh, Harry!" She fake sobbed again, "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry for everything. I didn't know what was happening! Riddle took control and made me do it! I had no choice!"

He realized that while her statement itself wasn't contradictory, he could see in her mind that she was lying. Perhaps someone as paranoid as Alastor Moody would have sensed the duplicity in her statement.

In the past, he had believed her when she said that. Now, he knew she was lying, and decided to take a page out of Moody's book. He could always argue that the reason he didn't believe her was because of Dudley's antic's and he noticed a similarity. Which was technically the truth.

Ares was silent for a moment longer, appearing, and feeling, unmoved by her fake tears and false apology, glared down at her. Making sure that when he spoke it was cold, but otherwise as unfeeling as possible. "Which is it?"

Ginny had been envisioning _her Harry_ dropping to his knees and enveloping her in his arms, holding her tightly against him as he kissed her gently and said it was alright. It wasn't her fault. He knew it wasn't her doing, and he completely forgave her. His question snapped her out of her pleasant daydream right before _her Harry's_ lips gently touched her own for their first, innocent, true love's kiss that would lead to more.

Confusion became the embodiment of Ginny Weasley for a moment. She merely stared up at him, at a loss for words, and unable to answer him.

Ares drew a careful breath before clarifying himself. "While I realize that he could have taken control and you not know, something he said implied that you knew exactly what was happening when he took control." That was a lie, but Memory Mort wasn't there to contradict him. "So, which is it? He took control, that's a given, but did you know what was happening, or were you unaware until after the deed was done? It can't be both ways."

Ginny was shocked, and a little fearful. He had never been this astute or this quizzical before, analyzing what was said and pointing out the discrepancies that the other person said. Even that mudblood Granger was able to say half-truths or blatant lies and _her Harry_ never once questioned. If it came from a Weasley, the mudblood, or Dumbledore, it might as well have been written in solid gold and a divine gift from Merlin himself in Harry's mind.

The tears were a little more real as they fell from Ginny's eyes now. Things weren't going as her little mind envisioned, and her heart firmly believed would happen. She was more hurt by Ares's reaction than she was by what she'd done.

"I didn't know this would happen." She sniffled, now avoiding looking at him. Seeing that stony expression on his face was breaking her heart. "Riddle took over me, made me do things. I had no control over my actions."

 _At least, there was some truth to what she said this time._ Ares thought to himself. _Even if she didn't answer my question, but she knows she can't lie now or I might catch on to her bullshit._

When she looked back up at him with a hopeful expression, he remained the same. She was expecting her admittance there to bring out the _Knight in Shining Armor_ persona _._ She was expecting her predictions/fantasies to happen according to the script from this point on.

She expected, no that was wrong.

All of her was demanding that he be that person for her. To show her kindness after her terrible ordeal, to be the understanding friend he'd been since he met her. Disregarding the fact that they hadn't spoken but a handful of words to each other since he met her.

He was all too happy to deny her all of it. It helped when he saw in her mind the truth of her thoughts and feelings about what happened. It all started when Riddle suggested that he could lend her his power to release the Basilisk for a Halloween prank, and if she was really lucky, get rid of the "mudblood bitch" that was standing in her way.

Ginny didn't even hesitate, but wholeheartedly agree. She wanted Hermione away from _her Harry_ , and really, regardless of what mummy said, Ron deserved a pureblood witch as a wife.

Ginny didn't regret the crimes she'd been "forced" to commit. She remembered them with picture-perfect clarity and relished in the experience and power. The mudbloods were in the way, and Penny was adored by Percy who'd been a git to Ginny on more than one occasion. And in Ginny's mind, Hermione was the worse mudblood of them all and had to go. Which is how Riddle won her over as Ares already saw.

Ginny had two regrets throughout all of this. The first was she hadn't killed anyone, only petrified. The second was Riddle's betrayal when he revealed that he was leeching away Ginny's life for himself.

She was a Pureblood! The future wife of the Boy-Who-Lived! A princess, and one day a Queen! How dare that bastard do this to _her_!

Ares found himself sickened by how well and truly evil, not to mention selfish, Ginny was at even this age.

Of course, "Harry" wasn't to know that. There was a series of expectations laid out for him. A carefully written script for him that must never be deviated from. Among them was to never know the truth about Ginny's and Ron's allegiances and beliefs. He was supposed to follow along and never question the intentions or loyalty of the Weasley's and Dumbledore.

His past behavior indicated they had nothing to worry about from that angle, all Ginny had to do was ride out this temper tantrum and he would be back to his meek little self, eager to please everyone. Especially the Weasley's.

 _No more!_ Ares's thought screamed out.

No more was he the desperate little boy looking for friends and willing to do practically anything and everything to keep them. No more was he a love and loyalty potioned halfwit, a mere step away from a flubberworm in intelligence. He was a man who'd slain the Dark Lord Voldemort, twice, and watched as many true friends and family died in the process.

He was a trained and battle-hardened warrior, and he was **pissed off**!

" _Yeah, yeah, battle-hardened warrior_ ," Fawkes laughed in Ares's mind, " _stuck in the body of a broken and weak twelve-year-old boy_!"

" _This is new_." Ares commented, turning to look at the bird on his shoulder, rather surprised he was able to communicate with the phoenix this way. " _And I'm nearly thirteen, the rest will be taken care of in time._ "

" _Sure._ " Fawkes drawled amusedly. " _Sure, it will_."

Frustration touched the Legimens probe Ares had in Ginny's mind, and he looked back at her from Fawkes. She was still sitting there, a small pout forming, and a rather annoyed look in her eyes.

 _He's not doing what he was supposed to!_ Her thoughts kept screaming.

Ares decided to use this chance to thoroughly spank Ginny down, without actually having to touch her, as that's what she wanted most. "You're a bloody hypocrite Ginevra Molly Weasley, and you should be ashamed of yourself." Ginny reeled back as if struck, but Ares was far from done. "Did you really think that I wouldn't notice that you didn't answer my question? You say that he made you, but you implied that you're a victim, same as those who you petrified. Codswallop!"

Perhaps this was kicking a man when down, and he ran the risk of getting severely punished for his conduct down here, but he didn't fucking care. Ginny's thoughts cemented firmly what he already suspected; Molly, Ron, and Ginny were closet blood purists, and if he was right, Dumbledore too.

Having said his remark, Ginny's memories flashed over her crimes and victims, confirming what he already learned. Ginny was a willing accomplice up until she learned Riddle was going to kill her.

"Perhaps you didn't know this would happen as you so claimed, but you, Weasley, of all people, should have at least suspected." He glared down at her. "Your father has worked in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts at the Ministry all of your life. I've listened to him talk about work and some of those cursed objects that he had to deal with, and I know you grew up hearing stories like this. When that diary began to talk back, it should have immediately dawned on you that this was a cursed object.

"At the very least, you should have realized that a talking diary wasn't normal and asked your father about it or McGonagall! You hadn't released the Basilisk yet, you hadn't begun to terrorize the muggleborns yet, you wouldn't have gotten trouble for bringing the right attention to the Diary's existence! You could have ended this before it all began, as much as I disagree with this fact, we both know that Dumbledore won't punish you for any of this either."

Ares took a careful step back, but otherwise looked and remained the same. "And what about the times you were in control, Weasley? Riddle didn't control you all of the time, why didn't you say something when you were in control? As I said before, if you didn't realize that the diary was trouble when it answered you, you should have been clued in when you came too after losing hours of time. When you realized that other students were harmed."

She had tears flowing down her cheeks, and he could feel her heart, not breaking, shattering. Not over anything that she did, but because of how he was talking to and treating her now.

"No one would have blamed you; it wasn't your fault. You were being controlled by a cursed object. You couldn't have been held responsible for what happened, and as I said before, you won't face any punishment for it. However, much I now believe you should. I learned all about cursed objects in my first year, and I know you should have as well. Because of our debilitating DADA professors, Flitwick's first-year groups take a couple of classes to teach this so the students know if they become aware of one, or suspect that someone is being controlled by one, to bring it to the professor's attention.

"You could have, **should have** , said something when you became aware that something was wrong!" His glare became more pronounced as years' worth of anger came out into his tone. "Better yet, why didn't you say something when I had the journal? That was the perfect chance to come clean about all of it, yet you didn't! You stole it back, and things escalated to where you would be dead now if I hadn't come down here!"

He took a breath to calm himself, closing his eyes, calling on calm from his occlumency shields, before looking back at her again. "In my opinion, you were being stupid, as you deliberately didn't do the right thing, and kept using the diary. This was completely avoidable, yet you ignored all logic. Stupid."

Ginny's shattered heart had given way to fury. He wasn't playing by the rules, and now he wasn't believing the helpless victim act and poking logical holes in her story. Ares kept an eye on her thought process as he ranted and watch as her pain descended into fury. It was inevitable that when he finished, the legendary Weasley temper would make an appearance.

"Why didn't you say anything!?" She screeched at him. "You had the diary! Why didn't you say something to a professor!?"

"If it hadn't been for Hermione and Ron convincing me not to, I would have." Ares said firmly and with complete honesty. "I remembered what Arthur said about his work, and I remembered my lessons with Flitwick, I was going to give it to him. However, Ron and Hermione thought it was part of the mystery, a piece of a puzzle that would lead to the answers about what was going on this year. They wanted to keep it so we could crack the secrets and expose the answers when we turned it into the professors. Hermione was in it for the knowledge, Ron was in it for the glory," Ares shrugged, barely managing to avoid wincing at the pain flaring up when he did. "I went along with it because they were my friends. Ron had more experience with magical items, plus your father on the back burner for any questions we had. Hermione was the brains of the outfit, and she wanted to know what was going on so she could protect herself, and ideally, the other muggleborns."

He sighed. "For each day we had that offending thing I wanted to tell a professor. Hermione and Ron kept convincing me not to. Days turned into weeks, and I eventually had it. Nothing they could say could change my mind, not that they were aware of this. I'd come to realize I couldn't tell them until after I'd given the diary to a professor. The day you stole it back, I was heading to my dorm to get it, and bring it straight to Flitwick and McGonagall. I suspected at the time it was stolen back because someone knew what I was fixing to do."

Ginny was staring at him in utter shock. She hadn't expected a coherent answer, much less that he would have gone against Hermione and Ron to give the diary to a professor. She expected him to pitch a fit and not really answer, giving her vindication that he hadn't thought of it for himself. Thus, providing her with a reasonable doubt as to why she didn't.

It was laughable how she kept coming up with schemes and he kept shattering them. He would look back on this memory in the future and laugh at the pathetic little girl trying to make sure she looked like a victim, and her obsessive determination to make "Harry Potter" her boy toy and bankroller.

"Now," He said bringing her attention back onto him and not giving her quick-thinking time to create a reasonable answer that he would accept, "my question is why?"

"Why what?" She demanded, not having an answer and getting worried at his pointed questions.

"Why didn't you tell someone?" He clarified simply as if talking to a toddler.

Ginny's mind was scrambling to come up with a believable explanation.

"I've never had a diary before." She lied, but it was the truth that followed, envious truth, before diving back into blatant lies at the end. "All of the other girls had pretty diaries. The muggleborns had a variety of different ones. Bright colors, pretty patterns, silky or fuzzy covers. All I found was a used-up leather one in with my school books while packing at the Burrow, still, it was my own diary. I didn't want to give that up. I just wanted to fit in with the other girls by having my own diary."

"So, it was out of selfishness?" Ares asked for clarification.

"What!?" Ginny snapped, "No! I just said-!"

"You said because you saw the other girls with pretty ones, you got jealous and wanted a pretty diary as well. But you didn't have a diary like them, and there was no way you were ever going to get one like them, but you did have a diary. So you swallowed your embarrassment and used the ratted leather one. Because that's what people would expect from the poor Weasley family, but at least you were proving yourself a normal girl, and making the best with what you had."

"I never said any of that!" Ginny screamed with all of her might.

"But that's what you meant." Ares said gently.

Ginny had no response to that; it was the truth. She couldn't argue against it without having any kind of proof. Lying about something like this could lead to magical vows or that nasty truth potion, and Ginny couldn't risk any of that.

"As I said, you were being selfish."

"My mum approved when I showed it to her!" Ginny yelled. "She said every young witch needs a diary at some point! I **needed** it! Don't you understand that!? Girls are different from boys! We _need_ diaries!"

Ares just rolled his eyes at her desperate and pathetic ploy, as did Fawkes who had been watching and listening. "Now you're just acting spoiled and trying to place a little blame on your mother for saying that you needed it." He met her eyes, "Girls don't _need_ diaries, they simply want them. Hermione doesn't have one, she has planners, but my point stays."

It didn't escape his notice that every time he mentioned Hermione, rage would fill her mind and would make an appearance in her expressions.

Finally realizing that he wasn't going to swoop down and embrace her, Ginny stood to face him now. In her thoughts, she was seething with rage that he would mention that mudblood slut in front of her, as well as the aforementioned not playing along with the usual script.

"I was scared!" She screamed, getting closer to him as she did so. "People could have died! And it would have been my fault! I would have been a murder!"

Ares raised one hand off of the sword, raising his arm so his hand was between himself and Ginny. While it hurt, it was manageable, and he thanked Fawkes for choosing the other shoulder to perch on. "One," he counted off his fingers, "the lesson on cursed objects. Two, your father's work. You are very well aware that you can't be held responsible. So that," Ares waved his hand a little, referring to Ginny's previous statements, "whatever that was either proves your stupidity or was a blatant lie. Take care not to lie to me Ms. Weasley, I do not deal with lairs well."

Ginny's lower lip was now quivering. Shock was the prevailing emotion now. The fury had ebbed, and all that was left was the shock and the growing sense of hurt. Ginny was beginning to realize there was no way to win this argument with him, he was sticking to his convictions for a change. Plus the fact that he had convictions!

Ares fought the urge to groan as she tried the last tactic she could think of. One every manipulative woman fell back on when all else failed. She began to cry. At least the tears weren't fake. They came naturally because of the hurt.

"Why are you being so mean to me!?" She sobbed heartbreakingly. "I'm the victim here!"

"As you said a few moments ago, people could have died; you almost died because of your choices. That's why I'm being mean, as you put it! This whole thing, as I believe I've mentioned before, was completely avoidable! And you're not helping yourself by trying to paint yourself as the biggest victim in all of this!" Ares found himself yelling. "You made the choice to keep doing this and not say anything, at that point you stopped being the victim in my opinion and became the villain!

"All your pathetic arguments and whining has proven to me that you are were being selfish, spoiled, and stupid! That is the only explanation that makes sense to me in all of this! Why else would you have kept the diary, or reclaim it after getting rid of it once already and _let_ it keep doing those things to you!? Either you were being selfish, spoiled, and stupid, or you were a willing participant in the evil that occurred here this year!

"Which means you're guilty of multiple attempted murders! Especially against an Ancient and Noble House, as your last attack landed Penelope Clearwater in the hospital wing as well! Which is an automatic death sentence! There is no leeway, there is no what-if scenario's, your age, gender, and blood status would have played no part in saving you!"

The reality of the situation she was in hit home, and Ginny realized if certain people in the Ministry found out about this, her father losing his job would be the least of her problems. If any of this was brought to the light of day, Ginny would be dead before Dumbledore even had the chance to launch a protest on her behalf, the laws were very clear on attacks against the Ancient and Noble Houses.

Ginny fell to her knees as her mind and emotions broke. "But I'm the victim! I'm a victim too! You shouldn't be treating me like this!"

"Then I suggest you go home and cry to your mother if you want comfort." Ares stated, his apathetic demeanor returned. "I would also recommend seeing a mind healer, I'm sure Dumbledore can arrange one for you. You obviously need one with your logic being so flawed that I doubt you have any claim to sanity. Add the trauma of this past year you just endured; you need a mind healer. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise."

There, he said his piece and gave her an out to deal with her mental issues. Now all he could do was wait and see if she would correct her thinking after some much-needed therapy, or if she would continue to be a shadow darkening his future until dealt with.

Before Ginny could say anything more, Ares turned and began walking towards the door, using the swords as a cane. "We need to go. There was a cave in when a spell backfired earlier. Ron's on the other side with Lockhart, trying to shift some rocks around so we could get back through. Lockhart and Ron already needed Madame Pomfrey, now you and I as well. There are more people involved with this than just you, you are hardly the only victim, and all of them need medical attention."

Once they were out of the door, Ares cast a powerful notice me not charm around himself for a moment and sealed the door shut.

 **§** _Do not permit any entry until the passwords are removed_. **§** Ares softly hissed at the door, lacing it with as much magical power as he could, as he set up a series of passwords.

" _Can Dumbledore still get in here?_ " Ares asked Fawkes as he canceled his charm, allowing Ginny to see him again as he led her back up the tunnel. She was too busy crying to even notice they'd stopped for a moment.

" _I'm not entirely certain._ " Fawkes trilled back. " _But I'm sure that a soul traveler such as yourself can think of ways in which he could. For the record, rule me out. I won't be bringing him down here._ "

" _Good to know_." Ares sighed as he walked. " _And yes, I can think of a couple. I'll just have to have sure that outside forces keep him busy_."

" _Make sure you render the skin invisible_." Fawkes warned him. " _Even if Dumbledore can't get into the chamber, he could still steal the skin for a profit if you let him_."

" _Will do_." Ares said silently thanking the bird.

Upon arriving at the cave-in, enough of the rocks had been moved that Ron was pacing on the side facing Ares and Ginny waiting for them to come back. Ron had waited here the entire time. He wasn't stupid enough to go into the chamber and fight against a Basilisk. The acromantulas were bad enough, he wasn't going to face a giant snake. Not even to save his baby sister. A sister he didn't really like all that much and was jealous of a lot of the time.

Ares had to fight down his shock at that. Ron was jealous of Ginny? Upon inspection into the red head's mind, he saw that, in the Weasley home, from Ron's point of view.

Molly loved all of her sons, true, and doted on Ron a little more than the others because he was her baby boy, but Ginny was her baby girl, the only girl, and she had wanted a daughter above all else. Which is why Arthur and Molly had so many sons, she wanted to keep trying till she had her daughter. This was spoken often enough it seemed it was ingrained in Ron's subconscious.

Yes, Ron was special, mummy's baby boy, but Ginny would always be mummy's favorite. Nothing would ever change that, and if Ginny were gone, nothing Ron did would make it better.

So if Ginny found herself in a deadly situation; Ron would save her for two reasons:

1) his mother would never forgive him for not rushing to her aid and would curse him into oblivion. If he survived, his limbs being severed, and she'd likely starve him like he saw Harry was all the time at his muggle relatives.

2) Ginny was now his meal ticket to a better life. While all of his brothers had more power and talent than him, if Ginny held up her end of the bargain and married Harry, Ron would be the brother in law to the Boy Who Lived. Women would be breaking down his door to spend time with him. Job offers would be plentiful, and he could have his pick of them. Though there would be little point in that, he'd be the one Weasley son who would never have to work a day in his life. Ginny was going to give him a cut of the Potter fortune so Harry would never find out that Ron and Ginny had played him like a game of Wizard's Chess, and Harry was the broken piece.

Ginny's constant sniffling, which thanks to his legimency probe in her mind, Ares knew she was forcing now to make herself look like the perfect victim after a terrible ordeal, finally caught the attention of Ron. Although they'd been in view and most certainly could be heard Ron never noticed them. Though in his defense, neither of them made any effort to get Ron's attention. Ginny because she was scheming, and Ares because he was avoiding talking to the bastard any more than he had to.

Ares realized that it said a lot about the git when Ron didn't hear or notice anything until they were but a few feet away.

Ginny was still holding herself crying, while he wasn't aware of exactly what she was scheming at the moment, he knew that she was. He had to focus on walking and not looking weak while he was about it. For the simple fact that he wanted to look like the legend others claimed him to be, powerful and strong. He was also right pissed from the encounter in the chamber, added to what he just learned from Ron, he knew he made the right call. Curses would likely have gone flying if he saw what the little bitch had in mind.

With a sigh, he lamented keeping his temper in check was hard work. He couldn't help but think that he needed Mal. She could keep him calm when his occlumency failed without much effort on her part.

"Ginny!" Ron exclaimed and rushed forward gathering Ginny his arms and hugging her tightly. Taking small breaks in their embrace to look her over and make sure that she was all there and okay. "Thank Merlin you're alright! I've been so worried about you!"

Ares rolled his eyes and walked past them to get to the other side of the cave-in where Lockhart was still staring at nothing and singing to himself. Biting his already cut up tongue to keep from commenting about the big lie Ron just told. The only thing Ron worried about was his own arse.

If Ginny was selfish, spoiled, and stupid, Ron was greedy, jealous about anything and everything, with the brains of a Troll. Ares would live by that till the day his soul ceased to exist. And knowing the angels as well as he did, he had a feeling that wasn't going to happen within the next few millennia at least.

Ron and Ginny were still embracing though they had followed Ares through the hole Ron created. Ron was just relieved to have her back and scared if he let her go, she'd disappear. He couldn't afford to let anything happen to her, literally. His financial future rested squarely on her shoulders, or technically, what was between her legs.

Ares looked away at that, he didn't need to know that. Or wanted to listen in to Ron's hormonal thoughts, especially in regards to his sister.

Ginny, was worse. Here was the embrace that she wanted, here was the compassion and love she was so desperate for. As Ron held her close, whispered sweet nothings in her ear, and made sure she was okay, she kept her eyes closed the entire time. She was pretending that Ron was _her Harry_. If Ron kissed her now, it wouldn't be Ron she saw, it would be _her Harry_ , and she so wanted a kiss from _her Harry_.

The person who Ginny thought was _her Harry_ , was gagging and nearly threw up then and there.

" _Somethings are better left unknown_." Fawkes gagged himself.

To keep himself from getting sick, which would cause him yet more pain, he inched his way over to the skin and used both parseltongue magic as well as several notice me not charms on the skin to hide it. Fawkes added his own magic to boost the still core-blocked Ares's spells. While some of his skills had transferred down, and the blocks were cracked after "such a vicious battle", his core was still blocked. He was sure the angels gave him a boost for just the beginning.

He began to realize that perhaps that every battle the blocks cracked on his core, but Dumbledore fortified them after each one. Making them stronger each time he did. In all likelihood, if they had become unblocked as an adult, he'd have died because his body wouldn't be able to contain his magic. Perhaps it was another defense in Dumbledore's mind, in case his various tests failed him.

Ares shook his head. Not the time to think about such things. He was at least, assured that Dumbledore wouldn't be getting the skin, now there was just working on a way to keep him out of the chamber. Satisfied for the moment, Ares turned back to the youngest Weasley's, whose behavior was borderline incestual.

They finally parted seconds after his attention was back at them. As Ron was beginning to realize he'd hugged his sister a lot longer than he should have, and was thoroughly embarrassed by this.

Ginny opened her eyes and looked around. She didn't have to remind herself that she was in Ron's arms all along, she already knew that. She used him as he used her, to get what she wanted at the moment. Her eyes landed on Ares, with his still infuriating apathetic demeanor.

She wanted to get him trouble. She wanted to cause him the same pain as he had caused her. Ginny turned to Ron and looked as heartbroken as she possibly could, and she began crying all over again.

Ares rolled his eyes and didn't even try to hide it. Never mind the fact that he was in physical pain, literally sporting broken bones, a possible concussion, and nearly died due to Basilisk venom. Never mind that Lockhart was reverted to his toddler days mentally. Never mind that the whole school was on lockdown and in a panic because a student had gone missing and was rumored dead. That student being Ginny. No, all of that didn't matter.

What _mattered_ was he hurt Ginny's feelings, he broke her little heart, now she was going to do the same to him by turning his best mate against him.

"Ginny!?" Ron squealed getting worried all over again. "What is it, what's wrong?"

Ginny shook her head, "You won't care!"

"Of course, I will!" Ron insisted. "I'm your brother!"

"But you always take other people's sides, you never believe me!" Ginny wailed.

"I promise Ginny, I will take your side! I will believe you!" Ron promised. "Now tell me what's wrong? What happened?"

Inside, Ginny was grinning, and laughing manically. Outwardly, she was wailing, "Harry was mean to me! I'd just woken up after Riddle had almost drained me of my life, and he was cold and cruel to me! He said it was all my fault and said I should be punished! It wasn't my fault! I was possessed! I tried explaining but he wouldn't listen to me!"

Ginny knew how to play to Ron's anger and insecurities to turn him against Ares. Not that Ares wasn't grateful to Ginny for getting the ball started. The original plan was to get Ron angry with him so he would leave Ares alone for a little while. Ginny was doing a bang-up job all by herself.

Ron reacted exactly how Ginny knew and hoped he would. While grateful, Ares was, however, rather annoyed that it was so easy to manipulate Ron.

Among Ron's many weaknesses, and it's not as if it was overly hard to figure out as Ron made no attempt to even hide them, was his jealousy. His jealousy was probably the most problematic of all of his weaknesses. The biggest example Ares could think of was fourth year. Again, Ares shook his head, coming to realize that it had to be the potions messing with his mind because there was no way he would have forgiven Ron after that fiasco.

Ron was jealous. Pure and simple. Jealous of everyone, and almost everything. He was jealous of his brothers. They got the good looks, the power, and brand-new things occasionally while he was always stuck with their cast-off. He was jealous of everyone else for a similar reason because they all had brand-new things when everything Ron had was secondhand or hand-me-downs from his brothers. Not one thing that he owned he could honestly say was bought for him and him alone, except for the things that Harry bought for him. Even Ron's prized possession which entailed anything from the Chudley Cannons was bought out of a second-hand store.

Worst of all, Ron was especially jealous of those who were richer than him. Ron was from a long-established Pureblood line, and yet his families were worse than mudbloods just after graduating from Hogwarts trying to find work. He was better than all of the half-bloods and mudbloods like Harry and Hermione. He was right up there with Malfoy, better even as the Malfoy's came from France. His family had been born and bred on the British Isles for centuries, they could trace it back to the fourteenth century a relative had ranted one afternoon. He wasn't sure which one now, but he knew it had been said.

It was humiliating that Harry Potter, an orphaned welp, destined to die if Dumbledore was to be believed, and Hermione, a mudblood whose only purpose in life was to spread her legs for him, had riches Ron could only dream of. It wasn't fair in his mind.

It was this jealousy, compounded with that Weasley temper and pride that saw Ron lashing out at any perceived threat or insult against the Weasley family. He wouldn't tolerate an attack on his family. Not even if it came from Harry.

Ginny played her part well, and Ron was absolutely livid when he looked back at Ares. "What did you do?"

Ares merely glared at Ron unamused. Remembering all of the times that Ron fought with Ginny and called her spoiled, Ares answered honestly. "Nothing you wouldn't have done if you were in my place, mate."

"See! See what I mean!?" Ginny sobbed harder. "He called me terrible things!"

"What did you call my sister!?" Ron shouted, his face going red.

"I called her stupid for not reporting the diary as a cursed object to your father or one of the professors." Ares admitted, unphased by Ron's anger and Ginny's pathetic attempt to get revenge on him. "There's more, but that's the heart of the matter."

Ginny, of course, wouldn't let it end there. Though she was rather surprised that Ares was admitting to everything rather than picking a fight with Ron about who was right and who Ron should believe. It was Ares's admittance to everything so casually that kept Ron on the edge of his anger being controlled or lashing out. Ginny had to push it a bit further if she wanted to succeed.

She bawled harder than a two-year-old who had their candy taken away. Which Ares would know because he'd grown up with Dudley, and even at fifteen, he still behaved that way to get what he wanted from his mother.

"He called me spoiled and selfish!"

Ares, couldn't help but chuckle and had to cough quickly to disguise it and call upon his occlumency to hide his amusement. It was hilarious! Ginny was doing her damnedest to turn Ron against him as an act of revenge, just to teach him a lesson, and Ron was falling for it hook, line, and sinker.

The goal in Ginny's mind was for Ron to stop having contact with Ares for a little while, just until the end of school. By then, Ares would come crawling back to the Weasley's, begging for Ron's forgiveness so he could get his best mate back and find some relief not to stay at the Dursley's all summer. Naturally, the condition of this forgiveness would be an apology and making amends with Ginny. She would then string Ares along for a few years, date a few other guys to make him jealous, before finally giving him the time of day.

Ares didn't need to see into her mind to know that she completely believed her delusional plan would work. And Ron would go along with it, because number 1) Ares disrespected the Weasley's and needed to be punished for it. Number 2) Ron stood to gain apology gifts.

This petty vindictive little girl was unknowingly working to get the youngest pair of Weasley's out of his way, and later his life, much faster and better than any plan he'd been concocting. He wasn't sure whether to be proud or groan at the fact that Mal predicted this just right when they discussed how to get the youngest Weasley's and Granger away from him early on.

She said to be himself and not take any shit from the Weasley's, and their vindictive pride wouldn't allow them to grovel to Ares. Especially when they fully anticipated that he would come groveling to them before long. In the end, he decided to be amused.

He merely stood back and let the youngest Weasley's bury themselves deeper and deeper into the mass grave they were creating around them.

Ron was as furious as expected, and however much he agreed with Ares, he was giddy with greed at the thought of apology presents. "Apologize to her this instant or we're not going back!"

"What?" Ares asked genuinely confused. Even Ron's mind wasn't prepared for that last part.

Ron shook his head, he wanted to get out of this dump and shower, yesterday! So he decided to pretend he didn't say that last part. "I said what I said and I meant it!" Ron thundered. "Apologize to Ginny this instant!"

Anger, which Ares had managed to get down to simmer, hidden behind his occlumency shields, was beginning to boil. He decided that now would be a good time to get that anger out to play.

"No!" Ares yelled, half of his anger coming out to play. His magic began to flare about it, causing a soft wind to billow off of him. "I'm right! And you know I am! I can see it in your eyes that you agree with me, you prat! I'm not going to apologize for being right! Ginny had to know, had to learn, that what she did was wrong on so many levels! If the Wizengamot gets wind of Penny's state, and that there's someone to actually blame for this whole disaster of a year, she's dead! No matter how much protection Dumbledore places on her!"

Ares noticed then, with their eyes locked onto him, they looked terrified. " _Huh?_ "

" _It seems your new appearance, courtesy of the higher powers I assume, has finally taken effect. My tears unlocked it._ " Fawkes trilled amused. " _In this dank and dark atmosphere, your darker shade of hair isn't that noticeable, but your glowing golden eyes are. Combined with your new attitude, yes-yes, Dumble-dick is sure to call you a new Dark Lord._ "

Ares had to choke back his laugh. It was fortuitous timing at that moment that Ginny shrieked in fear and hid behind Ron, who's hands had balled into chubby fists. Ares couldn't help but think " _Oh, how cute._ " sarcastically at the pathetic show of bravado.

"That's not him!" Ginny wailed, though internally she was ecstatic. "That's not our Harry!"

"Where's Harry, you imposter!?" Ron demanded.

Ares rolled his eyes and didn't bother trying to hide it. _Of course, because I have a new look and a new attitude, I must be a fake._

"What's got into you two?" He asked in a relatively calm manner, though his voice was still low and dark.

"He's Riddle reborn!" Ginny gasped. "The ghost from the diary that possessed me!"

Ron drew his wand, and Ares rolled his eyes again. They both knew that broken stick wouldn't work on him. Lockhart was proof enough of that. Though, in the blockhead's defense, he probably didn't remember any of that.

"What in the hell makes you think that I'm Riddle reborn!?" Ares demanded himself, not bothering to hide his annoyance.

"Your eyes." Ron said in a shaking voice, emphasizing the tremors already coursing through him. "They changed color."

Ares took a deep bracing breath and thought of a way of explaining it to them so that even the dumbasses that they were could understand.

He also made a mental note to thank Mal again for expanding his knowledge of cursing. The wordy kind, not the magical kind.

"Ron, I was bitten by a Basilisk, meaning I have the venom in my blood. Fawkes here healed me. Meaning I've also got Phoenix Tears in my blood. Combine the two and I'm sure that my appearance has altered just a tad. I'd be surprised if it didn't!" He could see the doubt coming into their eyes, and decided to push the advantage home in a way that even Dumbledore couldn't refute. "Besides, do you not see that Fawkes is still riding on my shoulders? Phoenixes are the foremost light creatures in the magical world if he's still attached to me, and calm, then I must be a good guy. Otherwise, he'd be attacking me to protect you two."

Ron's little brain was almost to the point of overload. The changes in his best mate were appalling. His attitude Ron didn't begrudge because as he said, he was right about Ginny's actions. It was the insult to his sister that Ron couldn't allow. They couldn't allow Ares to grow a backbone or they'd be able to control him. He already had his heart set on a new wand and broom as apology presents, there was supposed to be an amazing one coming out this summer too!

No, the attitude didn't surprise Ron he'd think there was something wrong with his best mate if he hadn't been cranky. Ares was always cranky after a battle. It was the change in his eyes that scared the pants off Ron. If he hadn't already emptied his bowls, he was sure he would have shit his pants when the change occurred. But Ares had a point in his argument. Fawkes was Dumbledore's familiar, and the fact that he was still clinging to Ares was proof enough for Ron that he was still a good guy and on their side.

Ron pocketed his broken wand and nodded. "Sorry mate, that was scary."

Ares merely nodded, grateful to see that for a brief second the red-headed male forgot that he was supposed to be angry with him to get his apology presents.

Ginny's reaction was different but expected. She began bawling harder, and this time, it was real. Ron was wavering in his resolve to punish his best mate, and she could see it. More than that, if Ares wasn't possessed by Riddle, it meant that _her Harry_ was being mean to her because that's what he truly thought. She all but firmly believed once again that _her Harry_ would never speak to or treat her in the way he did.

Lockhart, all but forgotten off to the side began singing. "Row, row, row your boat."

Thoroughly done with all of it, Ares removed the legimency probes and turned to Fawkes. "Sorry to ask this, but will you please take us to the hospital wing?"

" _Finally!_ " Fawkes trilled annoyed. " _I was over this scene before it began. Now, we can get to the good stuff! Well, have everyone line up and grab hold._ "

" _Please, no flying. We're all tired, most of us are injured, and then we'd have to walk up all of those stairs up to the hospital wing. It would further injure us._ " Ares pleaded.

Fawkes narrowed his eyes. " _I do not appreciate being used as a pack mule taxi service._ "

" _You mean you don't want to show how fast and easily you could take us?_ " Ares questioned.

" _Showing off is all well and good,_ " Fawkes argued. " _But when Dumble-dicks has me performing that service every bleeding time he wants to go somewhere!_ "

" _I get it, I do. But this gets it done faster, and you won't have to touch anyone other than me physically._ " Ares said. " _And I promise, I will not ask this of you again._ "

" _Promises from you are as good as swearing on your magic._ "Fawkes sighed. " _Damn it! Why'd you have to argue so logically and be all noble?_ "

" _To appeal to your better side and vanity?_ " Ares laughed.

" _Well, it worked._ " Fawkes said as he spread his wings and engulfed them all in Phoenix fire. " _This time._ "

 **}TLCW{**

Poppy Pomfrey was making the rounds over her patients, seething with rage that they were still in this state, despite the fact that they could have been revived within days of their petrification. Now they were going to need intense care and several potions due to muscle atrophy and whatever else came up once they were revived. She'd have no way of knowing until they were revived, all she could do now was stay vigilant and prepare for the worst-case scenario.

She nearly had a heart attack when her ward suddenly burst into flames then quickly faded revealing several filthy and obviously injured patients. Her screams were still echoing, and likely hurting them when she finally managed to swallow them.

Ares winced past the ringing in his ears as he looked at Madame Pomfrey, "Madame, as lovely as your voice is, thank you for silencing yourself." He looked across at the Weasley's and Lockhart. "As you can see, we've recovered Ginny, but we are injured, some of us greatly, and beyond exhausted. We're all in need of your care. Ginny's suffering from the lingering effects of being possessed by Voldemort. Ron is suffering from scrapes and bruises due to a cave-in. Lockhart attacked us, intending to obliviate us, but he made the mistake of using Ron's broken wand, and it backfired onto himself. Now it seems as if he's mentally a toddler again. See to them first, and I shall tell you of my condition and the full extent this time, no holding back once you've finished with them."

Ares then sat and carefully laid back on the bed closest to him, as she pulled herself together and began to snap commands. While she wanted to treat him first, she ignored Ares and went about caring for the "simple" ones first.

She could see he intended to have them out of his way. Whatever happened, he wasn't on the best of terms with them at the moment. It was in no way professional, but she was actually grateful for the rift. In her experience, the Weasley's, and Dumbledore for that matter were only a hindrance when it came to her healing young Potter.

When he checked in her mind, Ares was grateful for her caring. Genuine caring for his wellbeing. He used this opportunity to "doze". In truth, when he closed his eyes and appeared to be sleeping, he went over this life's memories thus far behind his occlumency shields. A brief scan over and he saw nothing that he wasn't already familiar with.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw Ron was checked over, given a few potions and sent to shower. Ginny and Lockhart were taking the longest for obvious reasons. While eventually Ginny was also sent to shower before coming back to Pomfrey, Pomfrey used her wand to clean the former Defense professor up and put him into bed with a potion to make him sleep.

While he waited for his turn to arrive, he noticed a Daily Prophet nearby, he used his wand to summon it to him, after discovering wandless magic was no longer an option. He also used his wand to place the sword under notice me not charms.

" _Won't work,_ " Fawkes sang, " _But the sword won't allow itself to be taken away this time around. It will return to you._ "

" _That's a relief._ " Ares sighed as he organized the paperback together after someone had taken the pages apart and unorganized it.

Meanwhile, Fawkes sat back and contented himself with a song.

" _Nasty humans, nasty humans, nasty humans all._

 _Filthy harlot with the game all in her head, and none to play along._

 _Filthy backstabber with his jealousy to make him fall._

 _A filthy liar with his head now stuck in song._

 _Filthy Dumble-dicks in ugly clothes trying to stand tall!_ "

Ares looked at Fawkes amused, but otherwise, let him have his song. Both knew Fawkes would be Ares familiar soon. The moment Ares realized he could speak to Fawkes; he knew that the bird would also be a familiar of his. Another clue was Fawkes's magic doing exactly as Ares asked. Without the familiar bond-forming, Fawkes, technically still being Dumbledore's familiar, without the specific instructions, would not have been able to flame travel everyone in the chamber and would have had to fly them out of there.

However, both knew, at least for now, Fawkes had to play the part of Dumbledore's familiar. It kept the attention off of Ares for now, and it allowed Fawkes to spy on Dumbledore for Ares. At least that what Ares suspected Fawkes was up to.

With the Daily Prophet now organized, Fawkes was forgotten as a picture of Mal was staring up at him. The article showcased the results of the custody trial and how the other Bones heir was coming home to Britain at last. For the sake of doing her beauty justice, the Prophet printed her photo in color, deciding that the necessary magics and ink were worth the expense to show the Wizarding public the jewel they were going to gain.

Staring up at Ares, turning around before smiling softly, was his love. Her ice-blue eyes vibrant and full of love, her hair, the dark umber brown mixed with the red, giving her hair the dark burgundy look he adored, was past her shoulders and falling in-ring curls. Then the picture changed to one that was taken the morning of the final hearing. Her hair was smoky lavender like she hoped to accomplish before leaving Purgatory, it paired well with her eyes. No matter which version he stared at, she was as beautiful as ever.

Fawkes stopped singing, sitting his head on Ares's own, he looked down at the picture Ares was still staring at.

" _Beautiful, isn't she?_ " Ares chuckled.

" _Indeed._ " Fawkes agreed, all playfulness absent from his demeanor. " _I look forward to meeting your mate soon my friend._ "

It was at that moment when Dumbledore entered, surprisingly absent of his usual Slytherin Shadow, and Pomfrey had finally finished with the youngest Weasley's and turned to Ares. Both looked very worried and even a little scared.

Ares sighed internally, realizing just how much people paid attention to his eyes and hair, more so than his scar. They first looked for the eyes and the hair, and his face. Since it was "well known" that he looked like a clone of James. However, he now knew that's not what the two were seeing. Rather than a clone of James, his facial features were now what they were supposed to be, a mix of James and Lily. That would be among the first things noticed, then it would be his eyes.

" _You are correct in assuming that Dumbledore and I cannot communicate this way together._ " Fawkes began softly, " _He can't get a read on me at all, and all I can sense from him is his emotional reactions. I can tell you this much, he does NOT like the new look at all._ "

" _Can you guess at a reason?_ " Ares asked.

Fawkes shook his head. " _I sense there are many reasons, but I cannot get deep enough into his mind to see what they are. All I can say for sure is what I told you, and there are many reasons why._ "

Ares thanked his friend as Pomfrey stepped to his bedside and began to take in his state and scan over him with her wand. Her voice was fearful and trembling as she spoke. "What happened to you!?"

"I would like to know the answer to that as well." Dumbledore said in his grandfatherly tone.

Before he began, Pomfrey came to his defense, "Dumbledore! Headmaster or not! I will _**not**_ let you pester my patients! This boy is in terrible condition and needs his rest more than you need your bloody questions answered! There are more important things than _**you**_!"

Ares's approval rating for the healer skyrocketed as she ranted at Dumbledore. Still, "It's okay Madame Pomfrey, I'll explain what happened as I only intend to tell this once."

He felt the Legimens probe then and decided to let Dumbledore have this, but all he saw was what Mal called "the canon" memories as Ares spoke.

Ares explained about the message Hermione left, and how he and Ron figured everything out. Then about their plan to help Lockhart, only for his dirty secrets to be discovered, then his inevitable betrayal. How they went after Ginny with Lockhart in tow as cannon fodder if needed, Lockhart's second betrayal of the night. The cave-in that followed after that. Harry going on alone into the chamber, the scene with memory Mort, fighting and then defeating the Basilisk, Fawkes healing him, the end of Memory Mort, the confrontation with Ginny, then Ron, and then Fawkes bringing them here.

"Why were you so cruel to Miss Weasley?" Dumbledore sighed. "She'd just been through a terrible ordeal and did not need that."

"Was I wrong?" Ares countered.

Before Dumbledore could answer, Madame Pomfrey answered. "Certainly not! While I agree in part with Dumbledore said, you were rather cruel about it, given your condition however, I cannot blame you in the anger you must feel. You are also one hundred percent right that if the Wizengamot learned of her crimes, her life is forfeit, Lord Clearwater is not a man to let an attempted murder on any family go. Especially his only daughter."

Dumbledore paled significantly.

"I also agree with you that she needs a mind healer, immediately!" Pomfrey continued.

Dumbledore shook his head in shock and simply stared at Pomfrey as if seeing her for the first time, then at Ares. Realizing, this all came from Ares.

Deciding he needed to know, using Fawkes's connection to Dumbledore, and Fawkes's approval after he realized what Ares was doing, they looked into Dumbledore's thoughts.

Old Albus was shaking in his polished boots. Bought and paid for with Potter money of course.

The Wizengamot finding out the specifics of what happened would be bad enough, but Pomfrey was right, Lord Clearwater would call for little Ginny's death as the old laws demanded. Dumbledore had openly supported them in the past, so long as it got rid of the enemy, though for the public face he argued against it and beseeched for redemption. It worked; his enemies were destroyed. However, at that moment, Dumbledore hated them. After giving his support to such calls in the past after his initial protest, he couldn't argue against it so vehemently without someone calling into question why.

No, he absolutely could not let this get to the Wizengamot. He couldn't lose Ginny; she was vital for his plans.

Ginny seeing a mind healer was another thing he simply couldn't allow. If she saw a mind healer, then all of his plans, and Molly's for that matter would be revealed to the healer. Because of their oaths, the healer would have to inform Amelia Bones as it was technically illegal activity. Bones was the last person he wanted poking about in his business.

The fact that she was busy rescuing the unknown niece was buying him some time. That was another matter he'd have to see to, but he didn't have the time to worry about it at this moment.

The fact that this all came from Ares scared Dumbledore. How much did the boy know? Who was helping him? Did he do his own research? He'd already had all relevant books removed from the library when Granger figured it all out. Perhaps a few had missed the purged, he'd have to have Madame Pince rectify that immediately!

All of that was running through the back of Dumbledore's mind, there was one important thing he wanted to know at that moment.

"And the change of your appearance my boy?"

Ares shrugged. "As I haven't seen it yet, only that Ron and Ginny pointed it out to me, all I can do is guess. I mean, you and Pomfrey have more knowledge than I do in this matter. As I told them when they asked, I had Basilisk venom and Phoenix tears injected into my blood. Perhaps them mixing caused some kind of magical reaction that changed my appearance?"

Fawkes trilled and nodded, as did Pomfrey, without the trilling.

"I have to agree with Mr. Potter." She said glaring at Dumbledore. "And if I were able to award points," She said turning back to Ares. "I'd give fifty here and now. That was a rather brilliant deduction."

Dumbledore was able to quell most of his panic with Ares's explanation and Pomfrey's backing it. Though he was concerned about what other effects such a magical mixture would have on the boy. Could this be the power that he knows not? It was already clear that the bindings on the boy's core had been weakened. He'd have to take a moment to reapply them.

Both Ares and Fawkes see this in Dumbledore's mind. Ares had to sigh at the manipulations while Fawkes growled. Though Ares was grateful that he kept that in their minds and didn't do it aloud. For now.

"Well, I've done all I can, I'll have some potions sent to your dorm. You can take them after you've showered. Sleeping in your own bed will do you some good."

"Even with my broken ribs?" Harry asked confused. He'd always stayed in the hospital wing before, and he could see in her mind that she desperately didn't want to do this.

Dumbledore had gone off and was conversing with the youngest Weasley's who'd returned from the wing's showering area. Pomfrey used this time to lean in and whisper to him.

"Normally, yes, I would keep you here, but as I said, I've done all I can, also," She narrowed her eyes over at the youngest Weasley's and Dumbledore's back. "Dumbledore might not see it, but I can tell, given from your story, that you want nothing to do with the Weasley's right now. At least those two over there. Your dorm, while not altogether safe from the Headmaster, at least gets you away from those two for the night. Further, there's not a lot I can do against the Headmaster, you're as safe there as you are here from him, unfortunately."

Ares grinned at her kissed her cheek. "Thank you for that Pomfrey."

She stood straight and coughed to hide her blushing. "Yes, well, as I said, potions will be on your nightstand, make sure you take them!" She narrowed her eyes at him. "And rest. Take tomorrow off from classes and not go wandering about the castle. If you must, then take it slower than usual."

Ares nodded and stood. Going to grab the sword only for it to flame away.

" _It's in your trunk._ " Fawkes said. " _Best I can do for now._ "

"That's perfect." Ares said allowed as he stroked the bird's feathers and kissed his cheek.

Fawkes didn't blush; Fawkes would defend that through eternity and Ares couldn't hold back the laughter.

Pomfrey tried in vain to argue with Dumbledore about the Weasley's stay there. Hoping she could kick them out and get Ares to say in the bed he was currently trying to get out of. She had the petrified, and now Lockhart to deal with. If "Harry Potter" could back to his own bed, so could these two. However, as Ares was leaving the wing, he heard Dumbledore urging Pomfrey to essentially pamper the two babies.

Defeated and murderous, Pomfrey relented.

Ares was halfway down the hall when Dumbledore called from behind him. "Ah, Harry my boy, a moment if you would!"

Ares sighed, but stopped, knowing there was no stopping this conversation. When Dumbledore caught up, the two began to walk together.

"I'm sorry for this terrible ordeal you've been through, my boy." Dumbledore began.

Safe from the Legimens probes, for now, Ares sighed internally. _Just get on with it, you old goat_. Still, he shrugged and answered allowed. "With what happened last year, forgive me, but I kind of expected another terrible occurrence this year."

In his mind, Ares could see that Dumbledore stumbled a bit, but carried on. "Whatever became of that diary? You never said."

Ares pulled out his wand and the shrunken diary cast then enlargement charm on it. Before showing it to Dumbledore.

Only to find Dumbledore staring at in shock. "I didn't realize that you knew that spell, Harry. That's very advance for your age."

Ares shrugged. "Hermione stumbled upon it some time ago, thought that it would be useful, especially with all of the things she carries around. She was right, as per her usual I suppose. I hadn't done it before, and I am rather surprised that it worked. I didn't want Ginny to see the diary again and did the first thing that came to mind."

Ares as never more grateful for Hermione's petrification than he was now. She couldn't contradict him or lecture him for lying to the Headmaster. He knew by saying that Hermione was always right Dumbledore would write it off as yet another interference the Granger girl committed.

And he'd been one hundred perfect right, Dumbledore did exactly that.

While Dumbledore was contemplating ways to undo Hermione's influence and "always right" in "young Harry's mind", Ares couldn't help but think for now. For now, she was "smarter" than him, and for now, she was "always right." Soon, the day would come when she learned just how advanced Ares had become, and there was one other who was right there with him.

"May I see the diary?" Dumbledore asked after their brief moment of silence.

It was only because Dumbledore was wide-eyed and eager to get his hands on it, most unlike the grandfatherly figure he was trying to portray himself as, that he didn't notice Ares struggle with whether or not to give it to the Headmaster.

Thankfully, and most annoyingly, Ares was saved by Lucius Malfoy, of all people, storming up the hallway toward him calling out Dumbledore's name.

As Dumbledore and Lucius argued back and forth about Dumbledore's being back and the reasons as to why Ares and Dobby make eye contact. Ares remembers that Dobby was supposed to remember, and the moment their eyes connected, Ares could see that Dobby did remember as Gabriel promised. The two shared a little grin, and Ares winked at him, Dobby gave a little nod, knowing what Ares was planning.

Looking back at the two older gentlemen, Dumbledore had just gotten to the part that "Harry Potter saved the day" again. This was where Lucius insulted him, instead of allowing that to happen again, Ares stepped forward.

"Excuse me, Lord Malfoy, the house of Potter would like to return something of yours."

Both men looked at Ares in shock and confusion. Dumbledore because of what he just said and wondering, in even more of a panic than before, just how much did "the Potter brat" know, and Lucius because he couldn't think of a single thing that the Potter's had that was once a Malfoy's.

Ares then handed Lucius the diary. Using his wand, grateful he still had silent casting to switch his sock with a page of the dairy. Even more grateful that Dumbledore was still eyeing the diary avidly. Allowing Ares the ability to use his wand without notice and tuck it back in his pocket before people got suspicious of it being out.

Lucius, to his credit, attempted to look confused, even scandalized, as he held the diary. He looked at Ares, "What? I don't know what you're talking about, this isn't one of my possessions."

"I'm well aware that you do know what I'm talking about." Ares grinned at Lucius. "You see, I know that you put that diary into Ginny's cauldron back in Diagon Alley, the fight with Arthur was just to disguise the fact of what you did. I know it was you who brought all of this about. All in an attempt to make Arthur look bad and kill, as you would say, a few mudbloods along the way."

"How dare you!?" Lucius thundered gripping his cane-wand tightly. "How dare you accuse me without any evidence to support your claim!"

"Now, now Lucius, Mr. Potter is but a second-year student." Dumbledore chuckled, playing heavily on that grandfatherly tone he used. "Have a care, it wouldn't look good if you attacked the Boy-Who-Lived in Hogwarts, and nothing he accuses you of will ever see the light of day in the Wizengamot, that is unless you attack him."

Mollified for the moment, Lucius handed the diary to Dobby out of habit, while glaring at Ares. "I demand to know your proof boy!"

Dobby, not even bothering to hide the fact that he knew that the sock was in there and where, opened the diary, grabbed the sock, and began to chant that he had his freedom. In his excitement, he dropped the diary. He jumped high, eye level with the two grown men, allowing Ares to redraw his wand, silently summon the diary, shrink it, and pocket it once more. He once more winked at Dobby.

" _That's also in your trunk now._ " Fawkes said to him, still perched on his shoulder, enjoying the show.

" _Thank you again._ " Ares grinned and scratched under his chin.

As before, even with Dumbledore there, Lucius goes to attack Ares. As before, Dobby defends Ares. Dumbledore merely stood back and watched. Ares could see that he wanted Ares taken down a peg, and thought the elf would jump in front of the spell, saving Ares, and ridding him of a loyal follower and a potential disaster for Dumbledore. He never suspected for a moment that a house-elf would attack a wizard, especially a former master.

However, Lucius didn't even get the words for the spell out, Dobby blew the wizard back. So far down the hall in fact, that the man began to fall down the flights of the stairs, that aligned so perfectly that he landed on the ground floor, right in front of McGonagall, who promptly took the Death Eater to St. Mungo's so he wouldn't be in the hospital wing with all of the petrified muggleborns.

 _Lucius left in such a hurry he didn't even get to threaten my life_. Ares thought with a chuckle.

"That was very reckless." Dumbledore scolded Ares. "I realize it was all in an attempt to free the elf and get justice for Ginny, but it was reckless."

"But not pointless." Ares grinned at Dobby who hugged Ares's legs tightly as tears streamed down his face.

"Harry Potter's sir!" Dobby proclaimed loudly, despite knowing the truth of the situation. He was playing it up for the audience. "You truly be's a powerful and great wizard! Thank you for saving me's!"

"Such a bright creature." Dumbledore grinned down at Dobby, his eyes twinkling. "We could use an elf such as you at Hogwarts. Why don't you report to the kitchens, and we can go over your employment later? I'm prepared to meet whatever terms of payment you request, I've no desire to take your newly acquired freedom."

Dobby smiled at Dumbledore, "No thank you Headmasters sirs, I'll be finding other works somewhere's else."

Ares watched as Dumbledore could only blink in surprise as Dobby popped away again. Ares had to bite his tongue hard to keep from showing any emotion or reaction at all. Even with his occlumency. So Dumbledore did just hire Dobby to keep an eye on him and keep him from actually doing any real help as Dobby would have wanted. Likely used Dobby to spy on him as well knowing that Ares trusted Dobby. It would explain why Dobby was much more helpful after Dumbledore's death. Dobby was forbidden from doing any more than what he was allowed. Even if he was a free elf, he was bound to Hogwarts for his magic's sake, and Dumbledore used this and his role as Headmaster to control the elf.

"Well, headmaster," Ares yawned, "It's been a long day, a long night, and now an eventful morning. I'm after a shower and my bed. Good day to you."

"Ah, Harry my boy!" Dumbledore called after him once he got over his shock and realized that Ares was leaving. "You still have my familiar on your shoulders."

"Fawkes?" Ares asked looking at the Phoenix.

Fawkes nuzzled against him for several moments before flaming out of there. He didn't even give Dumbledore the curtsey of his company. Something Ares could see annoyed the old man. With Fawkes gone, the Legimens probe was weakened and would disappear soon, but Ares still got the emotions and strong thoughts that leaked out. Dumbledore was insulted and annoyed that Fawkes clung to Ares while Dumbledore could barely pet the bird these days.

"Was that all headmaster?" Ares asked, knowing the old man was far from finished. "I'm quite exhausted."

"Yes, yes, you should rest, but first," Dumbledore turned his twinkling eyes up to maximum and laid his grandfatherly tone on rather thick. "may I have the diary?"

"Why do you want it?" Ares countered.

The only show of his annoyance was the image Dumbledore had fixed at Ares lessened a few degrees, Dumbledore also made sure to add some seriousness into his expression and tone. "It has been the cause of so much trouble. I'm sure that the Weasley's, Ginny especially, and myself for that matter, would feel much better once I've disposed of that thing."

 _Right, I don't believe that for an instant._ Ares thought bitterly. _You want to study it and thus verify the Horcruxes and not do a damn thing about them until the last fucking minute._

"I don't have it anymore." Ares said honestly. _It's in my trunk_. He pointed to where the diary fell. "Dobby dropped it over . . ."

Then he stared at the place where the diary had fallen in shock.

He was rather proud of his acting, as Dumbledore followed his direction and also saw that the diary was missing and began to inspect the area. Ignoring Ares after that.

Dobby popped back and snapped his fingers silent. Ares realized Dobby was masking the area with his magic so that when Dumbledore started scanning for magics used, even with the elder wand, all he would get would be Dobby's signature.

"Thank you, Harry, you may go to bed now." Dumbledore said turning back to Ares with a soft smile. "Be sure to take the potions Madame Pomfrey sent for you, or she'll be very cross with you."

Ares grinned and left the hallway before Dumbledore could hinder his departure further. Dumbledore would likely try to get the diary off Dobby or search Ares's things later to get it. Ares knew going back he'd have to find a way to protect his things, and recent events just put that to the top of his priority list.

Safely back in the Gryffindor tower, Ares went straight to the shower. Stripping off his clothes, and leaving them forgotten on the floor. He wasn't surprised when he turned around to find them gone, nor was he surprised to find the soaps that he favored as an adult waiting for him the shower. Ron would see them and call him a sissy, but the Irish Spring charcoal deep scrub always had him feeling cleaner than any cleansing charm or other such wizarding soaps he'd used over his course of Hogwarts or living with Ginny. Hermione turned him onto this, and it was one of the things he was actually grateful for.

He took his time, the first because he was still tender despite the healing, and second because he wanted to make sure that everything was cleaned off of him. He scrubbed every facet of his body. All in effort to get rid of the smells that seemed soaked into his skin and were making him sick. He was a bit of a neat freak, and that was one thing that was universal.

After an hour of scrubbing his body and his hair, he was as clean as he could make himself. His skin was scrubbed red, his scalp stung a little, but all he could smell now was the Irish Spring. He'd have soaked in a bath for his aches, but he was so exhausted he didn't think he could stay awake.

Dressed in the pj's that Dobby had set aside for him, he went into the dorm and found Dobby proudly waiting on him. Wearing a uniform with the Potter Crest, and a long coat with many pockets inside and out.

"Master Ares!" He sobbed, "Welcome back!"

"Is that safe to say?" Ares asked curiously.

Dobby narrowed his eyes. "Don't worry, it's safe for us."

Ares nodded. "Want to make that master thing official?"

"OH YES!" Dobby shrieked. At Ares's wince, he apologized.

The ritual wasn't that complicated. All he had to do was state his full name, and that he took Dobby as his elf. Dobby had to say his name, and that he accepted the bond. Once finished, Ares felt a little more powerful and certainly more protected.

"I don't understand, I thought you were supposed to unlock my core?"

Dobby shook his head. "No, unfortunately, this was the fear of Gabriel. The plan was for me to unlock your core, but it would seem that Dumbledore's power is too much for me to overcome at this stage. With your core still bound the way it is, it's not enough to empower me to further unlock it."

"Goblin ritual it is then." Ares sighed. "Is there anything we can do in the meantime?"

Dobby nodded. "I can make sure that W3 can't rebind your core whilst here in Hogwarts. I've also taken the liberty of hiding your cloak, the sword, the diary, and everything else you hold as valuable, in my many pockets. Not to worry, the sword has scabbard I found the Potter vaults. It can't hurt me. Fakes have been placed in your trunk for a few things so no one will suspect."

"That's Dobby, that's a great relief, and something I can put off until later now." Ares then raised his eyebrows at Dobby, "W3?"

"White. Whiskered. Wanker."

Ares threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, Mal's going to love that."

"I saw her picture in the profit." Dobby grinned. "Even without my memories, I knew the pretty witch was going to be your future wife."

Ares grinned back at him. "That she is, and will be."

"Is there anything important that we need to do right now?" Dobby asked.

Ares shook his head. "Other than protect my trunk and core no. You've taken care of my trunk for now, so it's just a matter of my core."

"Regardless, I'll still protect the trunk." Dobby snapped his fingers and the trunk flashed. "It will only work for three days, so that gives us time to figure out a more permanent fix to protect the trunk. I can protect your core from W3."

Ares chuckled again at that nickname. Then something occurred to him. "You're talking a lot clearer now."

Dobby nodded. "Blessing from the angels. It will also get better as time goes on."

Ares had nothing more to say to that. He looked over at his nightstand to find the potions and a few sandwiches. He consumed the sandwiches with vigor. Food. Real food. He could cry from how wonderful it tasted and felt in his mouth. As he took the potions with a sigh, he resigned himself that he was going to have to get used to it. He was likely in store for several potions throughout the summer for his health.

He laid back on his bed and missed Mal more than ever. Having her there with him when he showered was all well and fun, and would be a lot more fun now that they were living beings again. But it was not having her there when he slept that he knew was going to be the hardest part of this separation. Still, as exhausted as he was physically, he didn't miss her long. Passing out not three minutes after laying back. It would be the coming nights where his loneliness would keep him up.

"Oi!" Ron's voice woke Ares's mind, even if his body was immobile. "Wake up! I've got things to say to you!"

There was silence for a moment before Ron's voice could be heard again. "What the!?"

"Leave. Him. Alone." Neville's voice was low but firm.

"Lay off Neville!" Ron shouted. "This doesn't concern you! This is between me and my best mate!"

"I don't care, you loud-mouthed idiot!" Neville continued in that low voice. "It's all over the school. Once again, there was some crazed happening, and once again, you guys are at the heart of it. You both nearly died, again! Hermione's not here to hold you in check, so I'm going to do it this time. Leave Harry alone, he needs rest. You had the hospital wing for the day, and I know Madame Pomfrey sent him here so he could rest away from you. I can see that she was right to do so!"

"So soft baby Neville is going to stop me, is he?" Ron seethed, and Ares could just picture him going to face to face with Neville.

"In a battle of the wands, I still have the upper hand, Weasley. I also do not doubt that if you started swinging, that I would go down." Neville said, but Ares could hear the grin as he continued. "But I would get back up. You're only good for one punch and can't defend for shit. We both know that my work in the greenhouses has given me some strength."

"You don't scare me, Longbottom!" Ron snarled.

"Then perhaps this will," Neville chuckled, "my orders come straight from McGonagall. I was told to make sure that he rested, and to go get her if Harry was disturbed. I'm doing this because McGonagall, as well as the twins, Wood, and the rest of the Quidditch team, asked me to. If I can't stop you, I'm to report straight to them. I may not stop you, but McGonagall will tear your hide once I tell her."

"You rat!" Ron thundered.

"Scabbers is there on your bed." Neville countered. "I'm merely doing the job that was given to me by people who care about Harry's wellbeing. Now let him sleep, and go to bed yourself. The rest of us also need to sleep."

"Don't even think of attacking Neville." Dean threatened from the other side of the room. "Seamus and I are behind him all the way on this."

Ares drifted off again. If Ron tried again on the overnight, Ares was unaware of it. The next morning, it seemed that Ron tried again, though Ares could barely hear him. He could hear Neville, Seamus, and Dean all drag him out of there. Allowing Ares to drift back off again.

 **}TLCW{**

According to his clock, when he finally woke up, it was just shy of lunchtime. And the dorm was blissfully empty. Ares rose, washed his face, and dressed for a leisurely day like Pomfrey asked him to do. He winced and gagged, but he took the vile potions on his nightstand as instructed.

Since he had the time, he sat down and compiled a letter, following the etiquette and manners that his grandfather and father had beaten into him, to the Goblins. Requesting a meeting regarding his parent's will, and the Potter/Pendragon businesses and accounts. Calling the family passwords and standing within Gringotts to look into why he went unnotified and hoping for a chance to mend the bridges between them. He sent the letter through Dobby, knowing it was faster and safer than in the hands of his beloved Hedwig.

He walked down to the Great Hall at a slower pace than he was used to, but he walked with his head held high, and with confidence, that confused all who saw him. He smiled and waved politely at the stares and watched in amusement as their jaws dropped and eyes widened. Well, when compared to his usual, head down, shoulders shrunk together and avoiding any and all eye contact, this would be shocking for them.

He reached the doors of the Great Hall five minutes after lunch started. As expected, Ron was already there, stuffing his face, per his usual, not usual was the fact that Ginny was sitting with him. Ares realized due to the possession Ginny hadn't made any friends yet. He wondered if she had been allowed to make friends, would she have been spared and grown out of her obsession with him, or would things have remained the same?

People stopped eating now and stared at him, and his new look. He looked around meeting a few of their eyes before he walked further into the hall at the same leisurely pace as before. Ares liked who he was now, something it was clear Dumbledore didn't, and neither did Ron or Ginny. Which honestly made him like it all the more.

Ginny wouldn't stop staring at him, her eyes glued onto his every move, her lowering lip quivered as he ignored her existence. It took Ginny nudging him for Ron to finally notice that Ares as even there and about to walk past them. Ron began to call out to him and gesture to join them, despite the dark look on his face that promised a fight. He then hollered at Ares as he walked past. It was expected that he would sit with them as he always had.

Now, however, Ares moved on. He sat clear at the other end of the table with Neville and Susan Bones from Hufflepuff. Well away from Ron and Ginny, but still a decent enough distance from the Headmaster, whom, Ares never even spared a glance at. This turn of events was as likely to go unnoticed as Ares's new eye color. Before he was even seated the whispering began. His change in appearance and his new attitude were already the priority topic after his casual walk from the Gryffindor tower down to the Great Hall, it was now drastically dull in light of the revelation that "Harry Potter" was now clearly avoiding, _**and**_ ignoring, the youngest Weasley's.

One of whom had been his best mate since they met on the train. The other, he'd gone down into Salazar Slytherin's infamous and insidious Chamber of Secrets, slaying the Basilisk, all to rescue her. All girls, despite the jealousy and wishes it had been them instead, could see the writing on the wall, the future and inevitable "Happily Ever After" that seemed to be Ginny's future with the "Boy-Who-Lived".

Now, this distance cast some doubt on those previous assumptions.

"Afternoon Harry." Neville grinned at him, "You look a lot better."

"Afternoon Neville, and yeah, I feel a lot better." Ares grinned at him. "Thanks for the help with Ron last night and this morning. His loud gob woke me up, but not enough to the point where I could move and deal with it myself. Thanks a lot."

"Well," Neville blushed. "It helped that I mention McGonagall and the twins."

"Despite the fact that you were under no such orders?" Ares chuckled softly.

Neville merely wagged his eyebrows, getting a giggle out of Susan.

As Ares piled food onto his plate, Neville and Susan went back to their conversation. Neville, knowing he could trust Ares, didn't bother holding back his words while talking with Susan. Trusting Neville, Susan followed his example. It helped that she never believed that Ares was the heir of Slytherin. It suited Ares for the moment, though he was touched by the gesture they were giving him. He didn't want conversation just then, he wanted food.

He took stock as he ate, realizing Neville always treated him this way, with warmth, acceptance, no matter what troubles he was facing. Neville trusted Ares's word, which he felt guilty that he took advantage of that in the past at the prompting of Ron and Hermione. There in Neville, was true friendship, the kind that he thought he had in Ron. There was the chance of brotherhood even. All of it eluded him and was lost over time, all due to the potions that were forced into him by money-grubbing and jealous thieves.

When the conversation between the two stopped and looked back at him, Ares grinned at Susan and Neville. "Really you two, don't mind me. I just want to eat, those potions took a lot out of me, and my stomach's demanding to satisfied. I'm not about to talk while I eat. I'm not Ron Weasley, I've no desire to intrude on your conversation, nor do I insist on talking with my mouth full."

This caused Susan to laugh, "Oh thank Merlin! One Ron Weasley is enough for the world."

"You got that right!" Neville agreed as he drank from his Goblet. "You were saying?" he prompted Susan.

"Oh, Neville!" Susan's cheeks went red, tears filling her eyes and she smiled brightly. "I'm so excited I can't contain it!"

Ares ate at a slow pace, knowing it was better for his stomach. Seeming as if he was ignoring what was said, and simply eating. He made sure that he didn't put out negative vibes, just neutral ones. Giving the impression that he had a lot on his mind. Which was understandable, many thought, given what he went through, with the news that the petrified would be revived a week from today, that he was on edge. They all suspected he was eager to get to Hermione's side.

It was almost humorous how his Legimens caught all of that, but he had already guessed it right before his ability confirmed it.

He was grateful Susan felt comfortable around him as she talked with Neville. Mal was in the Bones family, and he was certain the topic of her would come up soon. He was eager to know when she was coming to England exactly. Susan would know the details the Prophet wasn't able to extract from Madame Bones.

"We won!" Susan gushed. "We won! She's coming home with Uncle Darren! I have a cousin!"

"So you've said and I've seen the Prophet, Susan." Neville chuckled before taking her hand. "I'm so happy for you Susan. When do you get to see her again?"

Ares had to hide his grin. He knew it!

"They're staying with the MACUSA until Hogwarts releases, then Auntie and I are taking an international portkey to America, and then we're taking a cruise ship back to England!" Susan exclaimed excitedly. "Uncle Darren says it's so we can spend time as a family and get Mal accustomed to being around us before having to live with us. That way she's not jumping from one home to another with relative strangers."

"That's fantastic!" Neville agreed, then looked at her confused. "What's a cruise ship?"

"No idea!" Susan laughed. "But Mal assured me in her letters that I'm going to love it!"

Ares thought they were adorable. Both with the crushes they were clearly sporting, and the enthusiasm over things they were ignorant to.

"If I may interject, I know what a cruise is, I could explain it to you." Ares grinned at them.

"Oh please!" Susan pleaded. "Uncle Darren and Auntie wouldn't tell me, and Mal didn't give specifics. I honestly don't think she knew before the approval was granted."

Ares nodded. It was likely so she didn't get her hopes up. "A Cruise is, as you two said, a ship. A very large ship, with many activities, such as swimming if there's a pool, crafts, and such. There are areas where kids can go and play. There are areas where adults can go and relax. There are spas, and daily events everyone can take part in. And lots and lots of food, of all kinds."

Susan got wide-eyed and even more excited. "Have you ever been on one?"

Ares chuckled. "Alas, no. But I've managed to hear stories here and there, and seen a bit on the telly." At their confused look he chuckled again. "Television, it's a muggle entertainment system." He grinned at Susan. "You actually will have a chance to learn all about them when you go on that cruise."

Susan was bouncing, it was as she said. She could barely contain her excitement and Ares as glad that Mal would have such a loving cousin with her soon.

Neville was also charmed by Susan's reaction. "Congrats Susan! This is a wonderful opportunity, and if you take Muggle Studies like you were planning, writing up what happened might give you extra credit!"

Satisfied with the answers he got, and confident he could figure out the when and where Mal would arrive in Britain on his own, he stood to leave.

"Oh! Please stay a moment." Susan stopped him, "There's something I wanted to talk to you about."

Neville looked nervous but nodded at Ares with a soft smile. "It's alright, I promise."

Ares sat back and allowed Susan to speak with him.

Relieved Susan, took a calming breath before meeting his eyes. "I'm so, so, sorry."

Ares looked at her confused. "For what?"

"I never believed that you were the heir of Slytherin or you were petrifying the muggleborns. One of your best friends and your mother for that matter were muggleborns, there was just no way it was you." Susan said softly. "Still, I never spoke in your defense. I wanted to, but I would have been in a lot of trouble in Hufflepuff if I did. Even so," She shook her head, and looked him in the eyes, "I should have defended you, and for that, I'm so sorry."

"Out of curiosity, what prevented you from speaking out before?" Ares asked politely.

With a sigh of relief, Susan smiled softly. "I can't speak for Gryffindor or Slytherin, but I can say that the bullies in Hufflepuff are worse than any in Ravenclaw. Everything you went through and worse would have happened to me if I tried to defend you. I, I don't feel comfortable saying more than that. I mean, I get it, we're supposed to be the house of loyalty, but even so, what they would have done goes against everything Hufflepuff stands for."

Ares could see her remorse, and hear her sincerity. He used Legimens and saw it was all genuine. It was slightly shocking, but then, not very much. Susan was a sweet-hearted girl.

At one point, Ares had honestly thought that if he came back with his memories, he would have met any and all who wronged him with rage and demanded recompense. Once again, he had to admit that Mal had a great tempering effect on him and his fury. He also understood now why Mal urged him to forgive most of the kids in Hogwarts.

One, he didn't know what their circumstances were, they were all still children technically. While he thought they were doing it to be mean, she argued there was a chance they were doing it for different reasons than Ares assumed. Hear them out, and judge them based on the truth, and forgive them and move on.

Two, by forgiving them, rather than punishing them, he could begin building allies. Very powerful allies. If he was going to save as many people as he possibly could, he needed to gain allies through trust and respect, later on using his cruel intimidation for his real enemies. Right now, in the beginning, it was about forgiveness and trust. To show his future allies that he was a good guy and a capable future leader.

Looking at Susan and Neville, he could see the wisdom in her words more than he did when she said them to him.

It would seem as if Gabriel _had_ been right after all. Funny how when Gabriel suggested it after his life married to Ginny, he'd shrugged it off as nonsense. Even yelled and raged for several minutes. But when Mal said it, it made him stop and think, and he saw the sense of it. He grinned, outwardly even, realizing that Satan was right too when he teased Ares during his training. Mal really did have Ares whipped and wrapped around her finger.

Even so, Ares didn't mind in the slightest.

More than Susan being Mal's cousin in this life, and the daughter of the Ancient and Noble House of Bones, it was clear by alienating Susan, he would push Neville away before he could even begin to amend past mistakes. Ares didn't want that at all.

Neville should have been his brother. Ares wanted that for the two of them. Neville had already proven, on several occasions, past, and future, that he was ten times the friend Ron was. On the other hand, Ares would also need the Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom in an alliance.

Ares sighed when he realized that Neville and Susan were staring at him concerned. "Sorry about that, I got lost in thought for a moment."

He looked around and realized that several people were listening in on the conversation, well, that was fine.

"Thank you for your honesty." He said to Susan. "I won't lie, I was rather put out about the whole thing earlier this year, but I've come to understand. I understand why you, and many others, didn't speak out against those spreading those horrible rumors. I can even understand why they were saying those things. They needed a face to blame, and when I spoke Parseltongue, it was the perfect candidate. Now I could argue several reasons why it wasn't logical; however, I know that fear can dull the mind. Better than anyone I think."

He looked at Susan and smile softly as he offered his hand. "I understand, and I hope going forward we can put this behind us."

"Oh yes!" Susan agreed and shook his hand excitedly. "I promise, I'm not the only one who thought you were innocent and felt strongly about it. You'll likely receive several more apologies throughout the day and before the term ends."

"I hope so, and I'll forgive those who overcome their pride and apologized. I wish I knew who started that vicious rumor, but alas, it's probably one of those things that will be lost in the crowd as they saw." Ares grinned.

Neville looked rather pleased.

Ares wanted to contact Mal, more than anything, but knew he had to wait. For appearance's sake, all he could do now was stare at the pictures of her in the Prophet, and wait. Researching in his own time to reunite with her as soon as possible.

The owls began to swoop in with the mail. Hedwig dropping in with the Prophet, and the response from Gringotts. He lovingly stroked Hedwig for several minutes before moving onto the Prophet. Opening his letter from Gringotts while pretending to read over the Prophet. Ragnok himself answered, as his grandfather and James predicted. Agreeing with him that things were indeed amiss and that they should meet at a later date. Allowing Ragnok and his security to purge the Banks walls of the traitors they had among them.

Ares readily agreed and would answer later, saying they could speak of a date and time when Ragnok thought it best. Dobby magicked the letter away as soon as he was finished reading it.

With that resolved, Ares went back to the Prophet. There, in bold and huge headlines, the Prophet announced the break out of Sirius Black. Ares did his best to not smile at that. So, that was one honorary uncle back with his memories. He was sure that wherever Sirius was, he was getting the treatment he needed.

He spoke with Neville and Susan for a few moments about it. Saying he was glad they were in Hogwarts, and after they all promised to be careful, the conversation changed again. During that time, a few more people came up and apologized to him, and Ares forgave them as well. He was surprised, Susan had been right about that. Even Ernie Macmillan apologized.

He felt that it was all rather anticlimactic, but then again, things couldn't be happening so fast all of the time, or their minds would likely overload. There had to be breaks, lulls, so both sides could rest and assimilate what happened. Though he was grateful to know that his Godfather's escape was the perfect thing to distract Dumbledore from him. Ares could get a lot more done with Dumbledore chasing after his dogfather.

Fed, bridges mended with Susan and Neville, and a few more people, he set off again. Hearing about the Ravenclaw bullies reminded Ares of another friend he needed to make early on, and help immediately.

Luna.


	14. Chapter 14- Delay Notice

To my readers, on both websites/apps that I post this on,

I apologize. Chapter 14 did not drop in November as was the plan, and doesn't look like chapter 14 is going to be posted this month either.

I have reasons, from medical issues, to the holiday season, to my daughter wanting family time during her winter break from school. Which is totally understandable, and I want to spend time with her and family during this holiday.

That said, this leads me to a confession; I'm having some issues.

You see, I had an outline and I went by it line by line. Sometimes a few lines turned into a few pages. I had a commenter mention something about Madame Pomfrey, and I responded back that something wasn't right with her. Only to be told she was the opposite and actually very supportive of Ares. I re-read that part and sure enough, it didn't match what I had planned for later.

That complicated things, but proved me with an opportunity to gather all of my scattered notes, and put them into an outline.

And that's what I've been doing, rather than writing chapter 14. I've been going through my notes, and working out how to outline this entire story to its completion.

Which leads me to an announcement that might not be so well received: TLCW will return in the new year, along with a side story. The story will feature the test life that Michael and Gabriel had Mal and Ares live before they went over the contract for the life they are currently waking up to the recent chapters of TLCW.

So in January 2020, this chapter will be deleted and replaced with chapter 14, and sometime after that, the complete story of that test life will be posted.

It is with a heavy heart that I'm doing this because writing this story makes me very happy and having readers who keep coming back brings me to tears each and every time, I see the views.

So rest assured, this is not a notice if an indefinite hiatus, but a notice of a delay.

To be honest, this might happen again next year. Unless I have chapters prewritten that all I have to do is edit, and that's actually my hope for the coming weeks. To have a bunch of chapters written that I can post one or two a month and still have a back log that will not allow for anymore delays.

Again, my readers, I am sorry, but at this time I feel if I post the chapter with my current outline, it will read like "blah blah blah, this character woke up, oh, more things we already knew. Blah blah blah, oh hey, the author attempted a joke there."

Because to be honest, that's how it felt when I tried to write it a couple days ago. I want to post a story that has people returning for more, not a blah fest.

I like to look at this at a different angle, and that is I've had a sudden urge of inspiration and I want to write a story that keeps you engaged and coming back for more. This is the best possible way to ensure that.

Happy Holidays for those who celebrate. Have a good rest of the year everyone, and I'll see you in 2020.

Sincerely,

Mel


	15. Progress Report

Hello, and thank you all for returning.

I thought it'd been so long since you'd heard from me that I should probably give you all an update on what's happening.

2020 has started a little rough for this family. No worries, we don't have the Corona.

We actually all ended up with the flu, and because I have to walk my daughter to the bus stop in the morning, I was wondering around in below zero weather with the flu. And wouldn't you know it, I ended up with pneumonia. So I was down for three weeks with that, on top of the two weeks I was already down with the flu.

During that time, I was going through TLCW, and taking notes for the rewrite, and along with the horror that consumed me, I ended up so much inspiration. The muse bug bit me, a lot.

So here is where I wanted to update you'll:

I'm working on editing/ rewriting TLCW. The afterlife arc won't chance too much, but the return to mortal life will change a great deal.

Speaking of which, TLCW will now be split into two parts.

The afterlife arc, and then the mortal life. That way I can do the afterlife arc the justice it deserves.

They will be named thus:

Afterlife Arc – TLCW- A Meeting of Souls

Mortal Life Arc – TLCW- Final Attempt

(Maybe not the best titles, but hey, it's a work in progress.) (I mean, come on, let's face it, those are the titles. My titles aren't always the best.)

Sorry to say, I have no idea when it will be posted. Be assured that it is WHEN and not "if". I'm working as much as I can, as fast as I can.

But with tendinitis causing my wrists and fingers to swell up (and let me tell you, it's painful) I can't even hold a pencil. And I can't lift things for crap! It's pretty much common practice now for my husband to be there when grocery shopping to so he can lift things for me.

I kid you guys not, the entire time I had the flu and pneumonia, he had to ring every thing up (we do self-check out), because I would start to faint if I did too much by myself.

Anyway, when I start posting again, I hope to post all of it together. Meaning everything that's posted is going to edited/ under gone rewrites, and then sorted into the necessary parts. Meaning you will get the complete Remastered Afterlife Arc, in full, as well as the complete Remastered of the beginning of the mortal life Arc, and from there I can continue posting as usual.

I'm hope for the summer months to make my debut return, but we'll see. I may have it all done sooner, I may have it all done later depending on what happens in the future.

My daughter and the health of my family come first, but I'm not giving up, and working diligently.

I will keep these chapters up until I post the complete rewrite. In which case I will take down these chapters, post a notice about the where to find the completed story of TLCW- A Meeting of Souls, and TLCW- Final Attempt. That way, for those of you who stick with me, can easily find it all again.

Thank you for your continued support, and I hope to see you when I come back.


End file.
